CUSTOMS LOOKS TO SCAN CARS FOR WEAPONS, DRUGS

Ultrasound, Infrared Devices Are The Latest Tools In Detecting Contraband
At Border Crossings: Requests Prototypes

Canada Customs and Revenue hopes to scan vehicles coming into the country
using ultrasound and infrared devices to seek out weapons, drugs and other
hidden contraband.

The agency plans to test devices over the next two to six months, then
decide whether to equip its officers with them.

"We want to be at the state of the art in terms of technology," said
Carolyn Jacques, a Customs spokeswoman.

If tests prove successful, "it could be used for detecting goods ... for
weapons, for dangerous materials," she said.

The hand-held devices being considered would appear to allow electronic
searches of virtually every type of vehicle that comes across the border,
from transport trucks to sedans carrying tourists.

The agency has asked companies to come forward with prototypes of such
cutting-edge, hand-held monitors.

One of two requests for information released to industry last week says
officials are looking into the use of infrared cameras to "review private
and commercial vehicles ... in search of concealed contraband."

The other document discusses using battery-operated, hand-held ultrasound
devices that could distinguish and catalogue different liquids contained in
barrels of all shapes and size, and search for concealed contraband in
vehicles that cross the border.

The projects are part of Canada Customs' attempt to tighten security along
the world's longest undefended frontier in the wake of the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks.

It has already announced it is spending $110-million on X-ray machines
designed to examine a full marine container or tractor-trailer, and ion
detectors for intercepting weapons of mass destruction containing chemical,
biological and nuclear materials.

Infrared, or thermal imaging, is useful in searching for contraband because
it can detect subtle differences in temperature, allowing users to find
compartments hidden behind walls, according to Sierra Pacific Innovations,
a Nevada-based company that has sold such products to police and the armed
forces in the U.S.

The potential of ultrasound technology in detecting contraband is a little
less proven, said Peter Coakley of Jaycor Electromagnetic and Electronic
Systems in San Diego.

He said his company has developed technology that can be used to detect
humans being smuggled in hidden compartments. The signals sent out by the
ultrasound can detect minute changes in sound, so the breathing of a
concealed person will show up as a telltale sign, he said.

An X-ray might perform the same function but ultrasound doesn't expose
people to potentially harmful radiation, Mr. Coakley noted.

Jaycor's equipment has also been tested as a method for detecting weapons,
even those not made of metal, hidden inside clothing or behind someone's back.

Despite the prospect of Customs officers peering inside trunks with the
high-tech devices, privacy is unlikely to be an issue, said Darrell Evans
of the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association.

Laws allow authorities to conduct searches at border points without
warrants, as long as they are reasonable, because of security concerns, he
said.

"I don't see a problem with it," said Mr. Evans. "They have every right to
go through the vehicle and look at everything."

Such technology may even turn out to be less intrusive than physical
searches, he said.