Las Vegas Casino to Make Use of New Technology to Detect Weapons

Las Vegas is the place to go if you are a huge fan of gambling, but there will always be some people who will try and get the money on offer using nefarious means. When someone tries to rob a casino, it is not only the staff members who are in danger, every player in the casino at the time of the crime is at risk. Casinos on the strip are well aware of this, so to make sure that their guests can feel a lot safer, they have started to use new radar technology that can detect firearms and prevent a robbery before it even begins.

What Will This Technology Do?

This technology, which was created by a Canadian security company makes use of microwaves (no, not what you use to heat up your food) to scan individuals to see if they are carrying a knife, firearm, or any other prohibited weapons. The technology is known as the Patscan CMR and it uses machine learning algorithms and short-range radars to scan people for dangerous weapons - without them needing to line up and take it in turns to go through metal detectors. Furthermore, unlike those huge body scanners that you can find at airports, a Patscan is small enough to hide in already existing infrastructure such as doorways, walls, and turnstiles. People entering the premises will not even be aware that they are being scanned and that is exactly how casinos want it to be. The scanners have a two meters range and if they detect a prohibited item, casino staff will be alerted, and they can then contact the casino’s security, so that they can deal with the threat if there is one.

How Does This Technology Work?

Each scanning unit is made up of service box and a couple of antennae. The first antennae gives off 1,000 electromagnetic radiation pulses every seconds, with frequencies of 500 MHz to 5 GHz. Yes, that does technically make this scanners microwaves, but they are not going to be cooking anyone. In order to prevent them from messing up mobile and GPS devices, they emit a weak signal. The second antenna looks for electromagnetic patterns within the two-meter range. When an object is hit with electromagnetic radiation, it will resonate according to the material composition and shape. Grenades, pistols, knives, rifles, machine guns, bombs, and machetes all resonate within a frequency range that Patscan can emit.

It Is Not Illegal to Carry a Gun in a Casino in Nevada

Believe it or not, but it is actually not illegal in the state of Nevada to enter a casino with a weapon. However, casinos do have the right to prevent people from entering their premises with a weapon. They can ask the guest to leave the premises or to leave the weapon with them until they leave. If a person refuses to leave or enters anyway with the weapon, they can face the charge of trespassing.

This added security technology for casinos was thought up after the horrendous Las Vegas shooting, where a man opened fire from his hotel window. He took the lives of 58 people and injured over 500 others. Luckily, since then, there has been no other horrific crime, but who knows what might happen in the future.

Will we see other casinos implementing this technology in the near future? We will just have to wait and see.