The NYPD wants you to have to come to them for “permission” before you can own a machine to detect biological, chemical and radiological weapons:
And it’s not just devices to detect weaponized anthrax that they want the power to control, but those that detect everything from industrial pollutants to asbestos in shoddy apartments. Want to test for pollution in low-income neighborhoods with high rates of childhood asthma? Gotta ask the cops for permission. Why? So you “will not lead to excessive false alarms and unwarranted anxiety,” the first draft of the law states.
Ah yes, so research scientists and community groups will soon have to seek the blessing of cops before doing their work. Everybody sing, “I Looove New Yorrrk!”