NYPD Seeks an Air Monitor Crackdown for New Yorkers (Geiger counter ban)

Villiage Voice ^ | 1/15/2008 | Chris Thompson

[Aglooka]

A city councilman and the cops don't want you to have that Geiger counter without their permission.

But Richard Falkenrath, the NYPD's deputy commissioner for counterterrorism, knows that it's just a matter of time. That's why he and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have asked the City Council to pass a law requiring anyone who wants to own such detectors to get a permit from the police first. And it's not just devices to detect weaponized anthrax that they want the power to control, but those that detect everything from industrial pollutants to asbestos in shoddy apartments. Want to test for pollution in low-income neighborhoods with high rates of childhood asthma?

...

And if people use these detectors without a permit, Vallone asked, do we really have to put them in jail? Afraid so, Falkenrath answered.

...

But don't think Vallone has given up or anything. He and his colleagues will try to accommodate all the concerns when they redraft the bill, he said, but one way or another, the cops are going to have this new power. "No one's going to be completely happy in the end," Vallone said, "but I think the police department gave some very impressive testimony on the stand, and also expressed a willingness to listen to concerns." After all, if you let research scientists and community groups do their jobs, the terrorists will have already won.

[Aglooka]

Once this happens in NYC do gooders all over the country will try to pass their own versions.

[mountainbunny]

Once this happens in NYC do gooders nanny-state control freaks all over the country will try to pass their own versions.

FTFY. This sort of ban does no one "good". Being in possession of information that can keep you healthy is always good.

[Pentagon Leatherneck]

Amen. The Eloi never cease trying to control real people.

TC

[NinoFan]

I find this very disturbing.

[-=SoylentSquirrel=-]

I find it MORE than disturbing. This is Big Brother similar to the "Television Police" in England. It has chilling implications.

And the guy proposing it is an assclown.

[RightWhale]

A Geiger counter is so simple anybody with a soldering iron can make one.

[SubGeniusX]

He and his colleagues will try to accommodate all the concerns when they redraft the bill, he said, but one way or another, the cops are going to have this new power.

Libertarian ping! To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.

[Stevieboy]

Wake up America

[ml/nj]

A Geiger counter is so simple anybody with a soldering iron can make one.

That's easy. Just ban soldering irons.

ML/NJ

[steve86]

I’d like to piss on his doorstep and then he can try out his urine detector.

[RightWhale]

They might as well since they banned lead solder.

[NY.SS-Bar9]

IBFMCDH

[Bob Mc]

Edmund’s Scientific catalog used to have a Heathkit that you could assemble yourself.

[Bob Mc]

"But Falkenrath pressed on, saying that unless the police can determine who gets to look for nasty stuff floating in the air, the city would be paralyzed by fear."

Yeah, keep the peasants ignorant and they are much easier to control.

I'm sure we will get more accurate information and updates from the new federal BONSFITA organization (Bureau of Nasty Stuff Floating in the Air).

[JoeFromSidney]

A couple of years ago when I was in Helsinki I observed a big radiation detector display on the front of the City Hall. Ever since Chernobyl, the Finns have been worried about radiation from Russian nuclear reactors, so they put a big readout where everyone can see it.

It had never occurred to me that the readout might be altered for political reasons. So far as I know, it isn't.

[Sir Gawain]

People like this are the reason we have the 2nd Amendment.

[theBuckwheat]

First attack and destroy the right of civilians to have an effective means of self defense. Now attack and destroy the right of civilians to have their own means of detecting dangerous materials.

Dramatic proof that liberalism is dangerous to safety and prosperity.

[ASOC]

I read the full article

I can only say

You

HAve

Got

To

Be

$hitting

ME!!!!

No wonder NY, NY is a cesspit. So bad, they had to name it twice.

[philetus]

BATFE&Geiger counters will be watching!

[secretagent]

I can see wanting to control false alarms, but not pollution detection alone. Whats the harm in that?

As for "unwarranted anxiety", how could that result from silent pollution detectors?

Would reporters be criminals if they caused "unwarranted anxiety" from reckless speculation?