New police radars can 'see' inside homes

[Xilantro]

Source: USA Today

WASHINGTON — At least 50 U.S. law enforcement agencies have secretly equipped their officers with radar devices that allow them to effectively peer through the walls of houses to see whether anyone is inside, a practice raising new concerns about the extent of government surveillance.

Those agencies, including the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service, began deploying the radar systems more than two years ago with little notice to the courts and no public disclosure of when or how they would be used. The technology raises legal and privacy issues because the U.S. Supreme Court has said officers generally cannot use high-tech sensors to tell them about the inside of a person's house without first obtaining a search warrant.

The radars work like finely tuned motion detectors, using radio waves to zero in on movements as slight as human breathing from a distance of more than 50 feet. They can detect whether anyone is inside of a house, where they are and whether they are moving

Current and former federal officials say the information is critical for keeping officers safe if they need to storm buildings or rescue hostages. But privacy advocates and judges have nonetheless expressed concern about the circumstances in which law enforcement agencies may be using the radars — and the fact that they have so far done so without public scrutiny.

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/01/19/police-radar-see-through-walls/22007615/

[daleanime]

1. Kick....

[liberalmike27]

28. To Some Extent

This has been around for decades, in the search for inside weed farms. Infra red seekers have been used for years mostly in planes, to try to detect hot-spots in homes, though portable units are around as well.

This is a new level of "snoopery." (ha)

[meti57b]

2. Sounds like they may see suspicious movement, break in and find a couple of cats running around.

Being hit by that radar is prolly also bad for your health.

[Scuba]

3. Kyllo v. United States

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyllo_v._United_States

Kyllo v. United States, 533 U.S. 27 (2001), held that the use of a thermal imaging, or FLIR, device from a public vantage point to monitor the radiation of heat from a person's home was a "search" within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, and thus required a warrant.

[Diclotican]

4. Xilantro

Xilantro

Hm - then it's time to build homes who have shields of lead on places you do not want police to peek into if you want your privacy protected - as lead is a nice but expensive way to make sure radar are not able to penetrate your privacy....

On the other side - I would say it is nuts - and I doubt it is legal, but then again - I suspect legality is out the window as the US are going more and more to a police state, a step of a time... Of course to protect the inocents - who would guess that after 25 years the US have a more clearly confined police state than USSR had back in 1991..

Diclotican

[waddirum]

6. One should make every effort to get the lead OUT of homes

Older homes often have remnant lead paint and lead solder in their piping. One would be crazy to introduce such a known toxin into their home for paranoid purposes.

(I know you were snarking in your post)

[Diclotican]

22. waddirum

waddirum

I was snarking a lot - but It does had a serious underline too - if the police could have the posiblity of looking at you - inside your own home for 50 fts away - you should be allowed to at least do something to make it more difficult...

But I do know lead to be a rather poisoned stuff to have around - and not what you want to have in your home volentary.... So I do hope for a better solution to the problem

Diclotican

[caraher]

13. Any metal will do

Lead would probably work, but it seems likely even a wall covered with aluminum foil might block this.

Wall Penetration

RANGE- R will penetrate most common building wall, ceiling or floor types including poured concrete, concrete block, brick, wood, stucco glass, adobe, dirt, etc. However, It will not penetrate metal. RANGE-R will generally penetrate up to one foot of wall thickness without adverse effects. While small metal objects embedded in walls (i.e. rebar, conduits, etc.) usually do not inhibit operation, a large enough metal object can impair operation. When this happens, the wisest course of action is to make more than one scan from different locations (move a few feet) for confirmation. If a porous wall is saturated with water, performance can also be degraded due to excessive absorption of the radar energy.

So, shine on!

[AtheistCrusader]

18. I don't want to block it.

I want to reflect it all back at the source.

[erronis]

20. Absolutely! With a huge amplification - blow their detectors out of their hands

I wonder what type of stand-your-ground law would cover blasting some unannounced electric probe of your house with a reciprocal targeted response? Hmmm, wonder if we can patent this...

[Diclotican]

23. caraher

caraher

That is also a posiblity - and problerly far sheaper than having a few cm thick lead plate put in your walls to make sure it is difficult to look at you, when you are inside your own home from a distance....

And as you point out - a porus wall who have water in its (by pipers and other means) can also make it difficult to peek into your personal space inside your own home...

Diclotican

[Jefferson23]

5. Great.

[FailureToCommunicate]

7. Bring it on...

[Jamastiene]

12. ROFL!!!

[Duval]

17. Thank you for the laugh! nt

[Triana]

8. Is this what they used to find the one Boston bomber inside the boat?

Or was that something else.

Not saying this justifies widespread use if it was. I'm just wondering.

[JDDavis]

10. It was infra-red cameras from a

State Police helicopter, which had responded to the resident-homeowner's call to police, after the resident owner had gone outside and examined the cover not being in the proper place over his boat, and had seen a person inside the boat.

Local and state police had responded to his call within 3-4 minutes and sent the helicopter to peer down inside with an infra-red camera which picks up the heat outline from a human body.

[Triana]

14. OK. Thanks! n/t

[jakeXT]

19. The Taliban use space blankets

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-16026965

[goodword]

9. Can We All Say Police State?

We do nothing to stop these invasions of our privacy, so we shouldn't complain when we lose our rights.

[heaven05]

30. +1000

nt

[Jamastiene]

11. Well, I can guarantee they won't catch me speeding unless

my high blood pressure medicine kicks in while I am close to the end of a good movie or watching a TV show with short commercials, both of which seem to be in short supply nowadays.

They might wish they didn't have to look inside my house though. I don't exactly like wearing clothes very often and when I am inside the house, forget it.

[FailureToCommunicate]

15. TMI

[Duval]

16. Marvelous (sarcasm) nt

[Wuddles440]

21. Just a matter of time

before the actual criminals acquire this technology and use it for even more nefarious purposes than law enforcement.

[flying_wahini]

26. agreed, thieves could check out a home to see if it's clear!

n/t

[AtheistCrusader]

24. If it can 'see' you breathe, it can 'see' other biological functions.

Like, two people having sex.

This technology totally won't ever be abused.

[jwirr]

25. 1984 - they are finally in our bedrooms.

[Ferd Berfel]

27. When Fascism comes...

HEY! How cool will it be when these damn things are selling on Ebay!?
I want one too!!!!

[heaven05]

29. when will it stop?

americans ARE NOT free...........

[valerief]

31. I wonder how easy it is for savvy home invaders to get hold of. nt

[Xithras]

32. And everyone laughed at my tinfoil. Who's laughing NOW?!?!

[ProudProg2u]

33. Nazi's

Somehow I don't understand how we lost so many freedoms. The argument will be (In a Nazi accent) Ziff yo dun't have anysing to hide vut are you worried about..?

[Feron]

39. I was thinking more along the lines of..

imagine if this tech had existed during the Holocaust. There would've been a lot more victims.

[packman]

34. Seems like its old news

I recall several years back that police would go up and down suspicious neighborhoods with an infra-red device looking for abnormal heat signatures such as heat lamps for growing pot. But maybe this is advanced tech, radar.

[caraher]

35. It looks like this simple device can be spoofed

It mainly gives information on the strongest return. The software does filter out simple periodic signals like oscillating fans, but according to their FAQ wobbly ceiling fans can be a problem...

Does RANGE-R detect moving objects such as fans?

RANGE-R has built in capability to reject synchronous periodic motion such as fan rotation. However, occasionally motion from an “unbalanced” source (like a wobbling ceiling fan or blowing curtains by an open window) can trigger detection.

This doesn't give the user an image, just a yes/no on movement, a distance to the source and a hint as to whether it is breathing or someone moving.

[Corey_Baker08]

36. What Happens When This 'Technology' Gets In The Hands Of Criminals?

[machI]

37. That radar is not for finding people

The radar is for locating the dog so the police can shoot it first thing when they enter the house.

[glinda]

38. Sadly the way they love to do that it would not surprise me.

[Sunlei]

40. police are way to flush with free cash from 'seizures' . I think police would use radars & drug dogs

to indicate homes they want to invade for free 'loot'. Police already 'pretend' to smell odor of pot as an excuse to invade private space.

If all seized cash/items went into a Federal-national collection point for equal distribution to the general public...America would see a lot less out of control local & state police.

[blackcrow]

41. I can see a market for fake humans

Place a few around the house, confused the cops and the home invaders.