Politics & Government

Full Body Scanners Banned In The City?

While travelers get set to deal with new airport security measures, one city councilman has a big change in mind.

As New Yorkers across the city prepare to take flights to points all over the country, there is one thing they all must do — take a walk through airport security.

This year, new Transportation Safety Administration security measures are getting a hard look because of new pat-down procedures and the recent leak of photographs taken by full-body scanners that produce revealing images. The federal government has assured travelers that the images taken by the body scanners are immediately destroyed after inspection, but the sheer number of images available in a web search indicates otherwise.

In New York City, one group of city council members is saying that the scanners are a bridge too far, and is trying to ban them from use in the city, and in the city's two major airports.

Find out what's happening in Prospect Heights-Crown Heightswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

City Councilman David Greenfield, D-Brooklyn, has come out strongly against the scanners, saying that they are too invasive to be used, and moreover, that they're not all that effective.

"The images produced by these naked body scanners are equivalent to the most intrusive strip search," Greenfield said. "I am deeply troubled that we are subjecting New Yorkers to this humiliating process, which breaches their most basic privacy rights, when we don't even have sufficient assurances that these scanners are more effective than other, less intrusive methods."

Find out what's happening in Prospect Heights-Crown Heightswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Greenfield gathered on the steps of the city council building last week to urge his colleagues to help him pass a ban on the devices, not just in airports, but in any building in the city.

"This is a dangerous precedent," noted Councilman Greenfield.  "First airports, now courthouses? What's next, school buildings? After all, we already have metal detectors in some of New York's public schools and the TSA is already routinely scanning minors in these full body scanners at airports.  Our legislation would protect the safety of our children and the dignity of all New Yorkers."


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