CIRA to get new body scanner

Posted on July 15, 2015
CIRABodyScanner
Central Illinois Regional Airport is scheduled to receive a new body scanner next week from the Transportation Security Administration. (WJBC file photo)

By Eric Stock

BLOOMINGTON – Central Illinois Regional Airport will be getting a new body scanner next week.

Airport spokeswoman Fran Stebing told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin the airport previously had the security scanner in 2012 before it was removed.

“It was a second generation of the scanners because there was no much controversy with the first round,” Strebing said. “We had the newer generation and once they decided to take the first wave out of the larger airports, they needed the one that we had.”

The first body scanners were replaced at major airports after passengers complained they were too revealing and were an invasion of privacy.

CIRA officials hope passengers won’t have to handle their checked baggage much longer. Strebing said the Transportation Security Administration is working to resolve a bug in the software that was set up earlier this year to automate baggage screening. Strebing said the issue could be resolved in a few weeks.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].

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