Newest terror foe may hide in your MetroCard machine
Daily News Exclusive
BY PETE DONOHUE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Two companies have developed metrocard machines that will be able to detect riders who have recently handled explosives.
This vending machine not only sells MetroCards - it can alert authorities when a potential terrorist is lurking and instantly lock turnstiles.

Two companies have teamed up to develop a machine that can detect whether the straphanger who just touched the start button or screen has recently handled explosives.

Alerts - including a digital image of the person at the machine and the type of substance detected - can be quickly transmitted to law enforcement officials, company officials said.

The device can be programmed to lock turnstiles at the station - and potentially beyond.

“This explosive-detection system may be implemented as the first line of defense against explosives threats to public transit systems,” said Cubic Corp. vice president Walt Bonneau. “There’s a good chance law enforcement will already be alerted before the guy leaves the machine.”

That’s pretty interesting, actually. I kinda wonder how good an idea it is to leak this, though… I would’ve much rather it caught someone first and then we hear about it, but farbeit from the Daily News to actually ponder something before they write about it.

I wonder how well it’ll work and how it’ll do as far as false positives?

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