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While much has been made of the emergency response to a chemical, biological or radiological attack, most of the visible efforts to date have been in the form of personal protective equipment (PPE) worn by first responders at the scene of a crisis. However, there also are a good number of companies in the business of detecting and analyzing these possible threats so they can be addressed in the safest manner possible.
The science of WMD detection is not new. The emphasis placed upon detection by the law enforcement community is new. As with most things related to weapons of mass destruction, the detection equipment now available to law enforcement agencies has come about as a result of the military requirements.
There exists a burgeoning marketplace of companies that manufacture equipment designed to test and evaluate substances such as toxic gases and potentially harmful chemicals. Most of these, however, are based upon the industrial uses of those products and the accidents that come about as a result. We must remember that the military and law enforcement responses to threats often overlap a great deal. As a result, agencies seeking this detection technology are encouraged to remain as close as possible to the military specification and cautioned not stray into the industrial-commercial side of the equation.
Listed below are several companies that manufacture equipment suitable for law enforcement use. Some of the equipment is very technical in nature and will require a great deal of training to use with any degree of accuracy. Some of the technology however is based upon simple "one button tech" that is intuitive in nature and will allow for an officer to use the equipment with only the most basic training with a high degree of success.
AristaTek
AristaTek differs from the others covered in this article because it produces no suits, no detection equipment and offers no protective equipment. What it does provide is a software package that can be used on most standard laptops, to include most PC-based mobile data terminals, that will accurately predict the dispersion of toxic or flammable vapor clouds or the propagation of other dangerous gases.
The PEAC software was developed with the express purpose of being used in a field environment so that first...