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Portable X-ray scanner gives police easy way to detect threats

NEWTON, Mass. -- A new portable X-ray scanner can detect hidden threats like drugs, guns, and explosives according to the company that manufactures it.

It’s called the HBI-120 and it’s made by Heuresis Corporation in Newton. The device is being sold to law enforcement agencies and private companies all over the world according to Katie McCabe, Heuresis’s Director of Business Development.

“The HBI-120 is the world’s first and lightest one-piece handheld X-ray imager that can scan multiple types of surfaces,” McCabe said.

To demonstrate the product, McCabe scanned the outside of a closed backpack. In seconds, a black and white image of a pressure cooker with two controllers appeared on the scanner’s LCD screen. McCabe opened the backpack and revealed an inert replica of one the pressure cooker bombs that exploded during the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing.

>>WATCH: Full demonstration in video above

McCabe said the scanner gives law enforcement, “Superman eyes” by allowing them to look inside bags, walls, secret compartments or any other spot where contraband might be hidden.

The HBI-120 uses X-ray backscatter technology.  It’s similar to technology used at some airports to screen passengers and bags.

“Most people are familiar with transmission technology, that's the kind of X-ray you get at the doctor’s office, this does the opposite of that  Instead of seeing high density things that block X-rays it sees low density things that scatter X-rays” Heuresis Senior Engineer Howard Kellogg explained.

Mccabe says law enforcement would need probable cause or a warrant to use the device in a criminal investigation.

When asked about stadiums, theaters or concert vendors using the HBI-120 to screen patrons she said, “When you go to a private place where there having any kind of security measures whether it’s a metal detector, or what have you, you always have the option to not be a patron.”