Category: Full Body Scanners

Detecting contraband on a person is an ongoing challenge that correctional facilities continuously fight.

As more facilities move away from physical searches and outdated scanning technology toward using newer, state-of-the-art security x-ray systems, that challenge has resolved somewhat yet finding certain contraband such as drugs remains difficult.

Screening with color is the latest advancement in detection technology body scanning and a viable option when the focus is on hard-to-detect contraband like illegal drugs.

Difficulty of Accurate Detection With Older Full-Body X-Ray Systems

The problem with even some top-tier full-body x-ray systems that produce highly-defined imaging is that these images must still be interpreted by a human.

Something as small as a little packet of an illicit substance can very easily blend in with the shadows and highlights of clothing and body parts or appear as a questionable area on the image that still leaves a question and further investigation is still required.

So although the latest body scanning systems have greatly improved security scanning and vastly reduced the need for body searches, the need for those searches could be further reduced if there were a way to determine what each questionable part of the digital image actually is.

New Developments Offer Color Differentiation

Recent developments that address this issue specifically include security x-ray systems that utilize high-definition scanning combined with color screen highlighting to make finding drugs easier.

A newer system highlights in red outlines suspect areas on the image that could potentially be contraband, pinpointing areas that require more attention, speeding up the scanning process and making it more accurate.

Even Newer Devices Detect Organic vs Inorganic Material

A second system goes even further with advanced detection technology body scanning software that can differentiate between organic and inorganic materials and can decipher the image by measuring x-ray absorption to determine object density.

Items like clothing, electronic devices, weapons, and other items, and then items that are not human tissue and not any of the other categories (such as drugs) can all be individually identified.

Each category of materials is then color-coded to be plainly visible to the operator exactly what they are looking at.

A Big Win for Correctional Facilities

Using these amazing new developments in detection technology body scanning, correctional facilities can now gain the ability to prevent nearly all contraband of any type from entering the facility.

Advanced security x-ray systems that utilize extra-high definition density scanning plus color-coded threat labeling make the job of security screening faster and easier for operators and more reliable overall for catching even the most minute items trying to pass through the facility doors.

As detecting contraband like weapons, drugs, and other prohibited items becomes more and more challenging, detection technology for corrections must continue to advance in stride.

With an end goal of designing full body scanners for corrections that are all around faster, simpler, and more accurate, this involves ongoing development, especially where image quality is concerned.

A clearer, more defined image produced by a scanner allows security personnel using these machines to do their jobs more accurately, and with greater safety for everyone involved.

X-Ray Scanning is Not Foolproof

Though full body scanners are much more essential in a correctional facility than a metal detector, producing an actual x-ray image of the person undergoing scanning, interpretation of those images is not foolproof.

A person must still inspect the image generated by the scanner and determine whether any objects present are contraband, body parts, or another item altogether.

This leaves a certain margin of error, no matter how small that margin is becoming.

Full Body Scanners Solve Many Problems

One of the most effective ways that margin can be shrunk is through the development of full body scanners for corrections with higher image quality.

Detection technology that uses medical grade or higher image quality is no longer an option, but rather, a necessity for fast, safe, hands-off contraband detection.

Scanners that can detect the difference not only between physical items, bone and tissue but also between tiny packets of illicit substances and tissue, and can display them in enough detail that a human can make this determination have become a critical element in the fight against drug contraband in prisons.

Scanning Software Had Also Improved

Coinciding with the development of better image scanning capabilities is also the development of scanning software that can take on more of the burden of actually interpreting exactly what has been imaged.

Smarter software means less guesswork by those tasked with determining what the details in a high definition image reveal.

Though this technology is separate from the image scanning technology itself, it still requires the highest definition imaging capabilities possible.

Does Your Security Scanning Equipment Need Upgrading?

Collectively, the better the quality of the image produced by full body scanners, the easier it is for both humans and software to make accurate determinations on what those images depict.

As this detection technology for corrections facilities continues to improve in leaps and bounds, it is more important than ever that facilities continue to upgrade their security scanning equipment.

In doing so, the amount of contraband getting past scanners and the number of hands-on searches that must be performed will continue to decline.