Stadium scanner aims to foil mass casualty threats at soft targets

The terrorist attack in Manchester has exposed the vulnerabilities of soft targets like big arenas, but one company might have a solution.

Evolv has created a new security scanner that can be used to detect explosives and firearms, but unlike airport checkpoints, which are primarily used to detect threats to aircrafts, this is designed to address a different set of concerns.

“If you’re worried about train stations, stadiums, places where you’re concerned about the crowd, then those are the things that security professionals are most concerned about,” said CEO Michael Ellenbogen in an interview with the FOX Business Network.

Ellenbogen says the scanner uses a combination of technologies to pinpoint firearms and explosives--without significantly slowing down audiences entering arenas and stadiums.

“[It is] designed to look for mass casualty threats. The kind of thing we just saw in Manchester—suicide bombs, firearms, but very high through-put unlike the systems we’ve become used to at the court houses and airports, [it] will do 700 plus people per hour… completely automated—red light, green light. Most people that come through you leave all the things that you normally carry in your pockets, in your pockets. No more dog bowls to have to put all your stuff in. Walk through just at a normal pace and the system will automatically be screening you for these threats,” he said.

Even though Evolv is a new company, the core team has been working with detection technology for more than 20 years according to Ellenbogen.

“What we can’t afford to do is create another bottleneck… We started Evolv to completely rethink security and to eliminate the need for more and more bottlenecks that create larger crowds, larger wait times and quit honestly new targets.”

The system is currently in entertainment venues and stadiums around the world, Ellebogen said.