[TheAtlantic] In New York City, the police now maintain an unknown number of military-grade vans outfitted with X-ray radiation, enabling cops to look through the walls of buildings or the sides of trucks. The technology was used in Afghanistan before being loosed on U.S. streets. Each X-ray van costs an estimated $729,000 to $825,000.--The NYPD will not reveal when, where, or how often they are used.
"I will not talk about anything at all about this," New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton told a journalist for the New York Post who pressed for details on the vans. "It falls into the range of security and counter-terrorism activity that we engage in."
He added that "they're not used to scan people for weapons."
Here are some specific questions that New York City refuses to answer:
o How is the NYPD ensuring that innocent New Yorkers are not subject to harmful X-ray radiation?
o How long is the NYPD keeping the images that it takes and who can look at them?
o Is the NYPD obtaining judicial authorization prior to taking images, and if so, what type of authorization?
o Is the technology funded by taxpayer money, and has the use of the vans justified the price tag?