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FLIR cameras help police find Boston bombing suspect

FLIR cameras help police find Boston bombing suspect

WILSONVILLE, Ore.—A helicopter with infrared cameras from FLIR Systems helped police confirm a Boston Marathon bombing suspect was hiding in a covered boat behind a residence in Watertown, Mass., according to an SIA news item.

Photos taken from a helicopter by the Massachusetts State Police Air Wing show a person—later confirmed to be suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev—hiding in the boat.

Oregon-based FLIR manufactures sensing products with a focus on thermal technology. According to a USA Today report, to get the photos, state police used a FLIR product, “a forward-looking infrared device used to pick up a person's heat signature, combined with night vision technology. The thermal imaging device can detect the differences in heat between a person and other objects so the images allow police to differentiate between a person and another item, such as a duffel bag.”

State police released the images through their Twitter account on Saturday. “Our helicopter detected the suspect on the boat,” state police Col. Timothy Alben said.

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