Issue link: https://let.epubxp.com/i/320907
26 Law Enforcement Technology June 2014 www.officer.com COVER STORY W hat can you do if breaching isn't an option and more intelligence is necessary to make the call? It's potentially a hostage situation. Doors are barricaded. Windows are blocked. Every attempt at establishing communication has failed; no one's talk- ing and you can't see in…yet. The wrong decision can transform the scene into a nightmare...quick. Time to think outside the box—or rather, inside the box. At their core, there are three differ- ent methods for gaining intelligence while remaining covert: emit a signal to digitally map the space, silently make a penetration, or use an existing access point. Unfortunately we all can't win the lottery and have a nice heating duct to snake in a fiberscope every time. With this, we're left with two options to figure out where people are. The self-referential through-the- wall concept allows law enforcement and SWAT tactical teams to gather intelligence while remaining covert. One solution utilizes a signal. Another quietly installs a small camera — 'small,' as in an 1/8 of an inch (roughly the width of a No. 2 pencil). Intelligence Two typical concepts come to mind when someone needs to 'see' what they cannot: locating aircraft with radar, or a bat effortlessly evading cave walls using soundwaves or echo-location. (Not Batman, we'll get to the Dark Knight later.) Both signals have been utilized to allow officers to see through a wall. How to see through a wall covertly Part 2 of "The science of dynamic entry" series By Jonathan Kozlowski LET_26-31_ThroughWall0614.indd 26 5/20/14 1:45 PM