Crime & Safety
DuPage County's Body Scanner To End 'Demeaning' Strip Searches
The machine will be able to find weapons, drugs, or other potential security threats that might be hidden on an inmate's body.
DUPAGE COUNTY, IL — The DuPage County Sheriff's Office recently installed a body scanning machine that they hope will help keep inmates safe without subjecting them to an "invasive" strip search. The TEK84 Intercept X-ray scanning machine can find guns, knives, drugs, bombs, and other dangerous items that may be hidden on an inmate's person.
In a statement, DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick called the body scanner "security and compassion all in the same package" because it provides a "passive, and extremely accurate, methodology to identify and locate contraband without the demeaning process of a strip search."
The TEK84 machine can scan a person in roughly four seconds. The level of radiation produced by the x-rays is about the same as what a human will get from eating a banana.
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The machine can be used to keep current inmates safe as well, officials said in a news release.
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