To the frontline personnel who depend upon PRDs to prevent terrorists and their weapons from getting into the United States, they’re as big and effective as body armor. This complex little piece of technology detects the presence of radiological materials in cargo, baggage or on passengers.

When radiation is detected at unusually high levels, PRDs alert its user by flashing a yellow light and either sounding an audio alarm or by vibrating. PRDs localize the source that set off the alarm, saving considerable time for the CBP officers who use them. Most important, it can save lives.

Must-see video
A training video was produced recently to assure that CBP personnel who are issued PRDs get the best possible use from their devices. The CBP Personal Radiation Detector is a 60-minute video directly supporting CBP Directive 5290-015.

The directive, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Radiation Detection Program, has the same goal as the video: to assist CBP personnel in detecting and preventing illicit radioactive material from entering the United States. Specifically, it states that:

• No officer/agent will operate radiation-detection equipment without prior training.
• All officers/agents who have been issued a PRD will be required to carry it while on duty and to ensure that it is activated.
• All CBP personnel assigned to work primary inspection points within ports of entry and Border Patrol checkpoints will be issued a PRD.

The CBP training office developed it in coordination with the Offices of Anti-Terrorism, Border Patrol, Field Operations, Information and Technology’s Laboratories and Scientific Services, Applied Technology Center and Human Resources Management’s Radiation Safety Officer division.

Upon completing PRD training, officers and agents will be able to:

• Describe the nuclear and radiological threat to the United States;
• Describe the role of the PRD in the broader radiation-detection program framework;
• Properly maintain a PRD;
• Activate and properly use a PRD; and
• Respond to PRD alerts as mandated under the CBP radiation-detection program directive.

Every officer and agent issued a PRD must complete the new training program, including officers and agents who completed earlier PRD training programs. This “new and improved” training incorporates the critical response component of how officers are to handle PRD alerts.

For answers to questions about local ramifications, policies or procedures that have been developed to augment CBP’s radiation-detection program directive, employees are urged to contact their supervisor or local training staff.