Full-Body Scanners Popping Up in Courthouses

[TorchTheWitch]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101124/ap_on_re_us/us_courthouse_scanners
Full-body scanners popping up at courthouses

By P. SOLOMON BANDA, Associated Press P. Solomon Banda, Associated Press – Tue Nov 23, 9:21 pm ET

CASTLE ROCK, Colo. – Taking a trip during the holidays isn't the only time that people might get a full-body scan to pass through security. People heading to court to testify, get a restraining order, pay a ticket or answer criminal charges could also face a full-body scan at courthouses.

The U.S. Marshals Service, which is in charge of protecting federal judges nationwide, is exploring their use at federal courthouses. And two state courthouses in Douglas and El Paso counties in Colorado have already deployed full-body scanners that use radio waves to detect all objects on a person, including paper.

A guard in a separate room monitors the gray images with pixelated faces and genital areas, and the images aren't stored on a computer. officials said. All visitors to the Douglas County Courthouse in Castle Rock, Colo., undergo full-body scans, while guards at the El Paso County Judicial Center in Colorado Springs use the scanners during peak hours.

Angela Hellenbrand received a quick pat down Tuesday by security guard Mike Couts at the Castle Rock courthouse about 30 miles south of Denver. A guard in another room monitoring the full-body scans alerted Couts to an object in Hellenbrand's left rear pocket. It was the paper backing of a "Junior Deputy Sheriff" sticker that one of the guards had given her two young boys.

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Just as many of us have feared, body scan machines aren't going to be just for airports. Considering the cumulative effects of radiation, this is truly terrifying. Though the average person may fly on a commercial plane every once in awhile or even as often as monthly VERY many people have jobs that require them to visit the courthouse every DAY and even several times a day. When I was a paralegal, visiting the courthouse was part of my job and I had to do it nearly every day and occasionally several times in one day. Many firms use document filers whose job it is to run back and forth from their law firm clients to the courthouses to file documents all day long requiring MANY trips to the courthouse every day... how many times a day does the government believe that citizens can be zapped with no bad health effects???

What is the government's reasoning behind having these machines installed in courthouses? What terrorist event makes it necessary to now see anyone that goes to a courthouse naked and zap them with radiation every time they go even if their job requires they go through the scanner every day and often several times a day?

This is NOT about airline security, nor is it about security at all.

[egoclothes]

1. now we have the locals knowing all.

[Catherina]

2. Why courthouses? Let's protect what's important. Put them in the White House,

Congress, Pentagon, FBI, CIA, Brookings, etc...

[LisaL]

3. And if you believe these images can't be stored, well:

"As the backlash over more intrusive airport security methods increases, the tech site Gizmodo has published 100 of 35,000 low-resolution body scans that were saved improperly during screenings at the U.S. courthouse in Orlando. Federal officials have claimed that such "advanced imaging technology" could not store images."
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/11/tech-site-publishes-100-of-35000-naked-body-scans-from-fla-court/1

[TorchTheWitch]

4. kick

[hlthe2b]

5. K&R

Sad that a few here are so convinced they must support these atrocities to our civil liberties--merely because some on the RW agree with us. Seems to me that bad policy is bad policy, no matter who makes the decisions and our civil rights should be respected regardless of politics. (I'm sort of naive' that way). :shrug:

[intheflow]

6. Douglas and El Paso Counties are super conservative.

Colorado Springs is in El Paso County, and Douglas County has wealth dripping from it's trollish jowls.

[TorchTheWitch]

7. so?

Are you suggesting that it's ok to put these scanners in courthouses that are in conservative areas?

[intheflow]

12. No.

I saying conservative trolls are more likely to roll over and give up their civil liberties in the name of "security." Colorado Springs' economy depends on the military. the largest employer in Douglas County are aerospace companies. Not only do many of those people have personal stock in security firms, their livelihoods depend on the perpetuation of the military industrial complex. Of course they're all over the scanners - they keep people fearful and vulnerable, which is always good for business.

[TorchTheWitch]

14. looked around here lately?

Plenty of DUers now say that we should be giving up our civil liberties in the name of security. Those DUers are also jumping on the bandwagon that these machines are necessary and stripping away our civil liberties is a-ok because those evil conservative RW nutjobs are suddenly against them. BOTH sides of the political spectrum are doing a complete about-face concerning civil liberties in teh name of security for no other reason than whether or not it was "their guy" in the White House who's saying we should be giving up our civil liberties.

The point here is that these machines and gropes aren't stopping at the airports... if they're already in some courthouses there WILL be more of them put into courthouses everywhere and it's not going to matter a damn whether or not the general area is conservative or not.

[intheflow]

18. Duh.

I know what the point of your OP was. I was just pointing out the demographics of the region where they're first being reported. What in my post made you think I need schooling on the subject of scanners, or the scanner debate on DU? I assure you, I am well-versed on both subjects.

[seabeyond]

20. they did prior to obama. it was the dems that have been yelling and are still

yelling with rw joining in. not other way around. and as soon as a repug gets in, the rw will support it all the way

[starroute]

8. The article says radio wave scanners -- not X-ray scanners

It's the X-rays that have been associated with the health concerns. I don't know if the radio wave type is completely harmless for someone who passes it many times a day, but it isn't the type used at the airports.

[TorchTheWitch]

9. so seeing people naked and/or groping them is ok?

Just to enter a courthouse?

What about other courthouses all over the US that don't have them yet? If the government doesn't care that x-ray scanners are used at airports what's to stop them from putting x-ray scanners in courthouses?

[Boudica the Lyoness]

13. Yes, they will be in every public place.

How far will this go?

I have been bothered for years that the US police treat law abiding citizens like criminals, tasing them in their own homes and shooting their dogs etc. There's no 'innocent until proven guilty' and they can get away with being our judge, jury and executioner. By allowing the the police to behave in such a matter has opened the door for other abuses in the governments control over us. As long as there's money to be made at our expense they will keep escalating the abuse of our rights.

[Matariki]

19. Furthermore, no one can say "if you don't like it, don't go to court"

You can't really opt out of a court date.

[arikara]

10. I read somewhere that there are concerns

they may not be harmless either, apparently they may do something to the DNA strands. Don't remember where though. I can't see how anything like that could be completely benign, especially with repeated use.

[LisaL]

16. For the particular courthouses described in the article.

Some airports installed x-ray scanners and some radio waves scanners, so I can't think of why it wouldn't be the same for courthouses.

[TBF]

11. Being installed soon in the grocery store near you! nt

[LisaL]

15. I wouldn't be surprised cause that's probably where it's all going.

[Name removed]

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