[Rockhounds] for those in New York City w/an interest in radioactivity

[pmodreski at aol.com]

Thanks, Jeff.  I did find a link to several stories about this, including one from the NY Times,



http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/a-license-to-check-for-wmds/

 

A License to Check for W.M.D.’s?

By Sewell Chan

 

Individuals and companies have increasingly expressed interest in buying detectors to warn them in case of a biological, chemical or radiological attack. But now a City Council committee is considering a proposal that would require New Yorkers to get a permit from the Police Department to buy or use such detectors. 

The legislation — which was proposed by the Bloomberg administration and would be the first of its kind in the nation — would empower the police commissioner to decide whether to grant a free five-year permit to individuals and companies seeking to “possess or deploy such detectors.” Common smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors would not be covered by the law, the Police Department said. Violations of the law would be considered a misdemeanor. 

Why does the administration think such a law is necessary? Richard A. Falkenrath, the Police Department’s deputy commissioner for counterterrorism, told the Council’s Public Safety Committee at a hearing today, “Our mutual goal is to prevent false alarms and unnecessary public concern by making sure that we know where these detectors are located and that they conform to standards of quality and reliability.”    .... etc.


Pete

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeffrey T. Cessna <jcessna at nist.gov>
To: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors <rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
Sent: Tue, 29 Jan 2008 4:22 pm
Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] for those in New York City w/an interest in radioactivity



Pete, 
 
Here is the opening from the New York Village Voice, if that helps finding the article by other than the link. The link still worked when I checked it. Perhaps? your mail program? is adding? secret? characters.? I also tried deleting the characters not in my original mail from the quoted text below. 
 
NYPD Seeks an Air Monitor Crackdown for New Yorkers 
A city councilman and the cops don't want you to have that Geiger counter without their permission 
by Chris Thompson 
January 15th, 2008 5:13 PM 
 
The article opens with the news that the police have not, in fact, spent lots of money and time chasing down bad leads from people with their own detectors, but NYPD's deputy commissioner for counterterrorism feels it is just a matter of time. 
 
I should note that no specific detectors are mentioned. The proposed law apparently refers to any instrument capable of detecting biological, chemical, or radiological weapons. A different article had an interesting statement that once you have your free five year permit for your detector, you are required to report any contamination you detect. I guess they check their list of approved detectors to see if they should ignore your likely false positive. 
 
Apparently there was a fair bit of opposition to the "trust us with a blank check" nature of the proposal. 
 
All that said, I didn't mean to start a discussion of the merits, merely to enlighten people that they may one day inadvertently commit a(nother) misdemeanor. 
 
Cheers, Jeff 
 
 


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