http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101124/ap_on_re_us/us_courthouse_scannersFull-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.