Los Angeles police have purchased seven devices that can sniff out the radioactive signature of a dirty bomb device, it was reported on Saturday.
Los Angeles was prepared for potential terror attack by a dirty bomb, police chief William Bratton said in remarks published by the Los Angeles Times on its website.
Bratton warned that it was only a matter of time before America was the target of a dirty bomb.
One of the anti-dirty bomb devices has been installed in a helicopter and is capable of detecting an unexploded dirty bomb from an altitude of 800 feet, said Bratton.
Dirty bombs employ conventional explosives to scatter radioactive material into the surrounding atmosphere, and have been used in Israel.
"New York and Washington are still the biggest risks in the country," Bratton told The Times. "We come in right behind them because of the special assets we have: the port, the airport, and just the symbolism of so much of what they hate."
Bratton said the department has been awarded 3 million U.S. dollars in Homeland Security funds, and also used that money to buy a 900,000-dollar bomb response truck that has a robot that can be operated from a mile (1.6 km) away.
The department also invested in a mobile response truck for police public information officers, to serve as a portable center for communicating information via news media, the chief said.
Source: Xinhua
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