A lawsuit is looking for information about the NYPD's use of x-ray vans. NY1's Dean Meminger filed the following report.
New Yorkers don't know that some vehicles they see on the street are hiding military technology, x-raying cars and homes.
"The public knows next to nothing about this program," said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. "We have no idea about the health risk attended to using x-rays on the street."
The civil liberties union and the Brennan Center For Justice are joining a lawsuit by the nonprofit ProPublica news site seeking information about the NYPD's use of the x-ray vans, called Z Backscatters.
A Massachusetts company developed the technology after the September 11th attacks. It has been used by the U.S. military to search for bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The NYPD has been quietly deploying the vans, most recently for the gathering of the United Nations General Assembly.
The police commissioner says the program is top secret.
"We will not talk anything at all about them," Bratton said. "This falls into the range of security and counterterrorism activity that we engage in."
The vans use technology similar to airport scanners and can detect hidden bombs, drugs and people.
"When you search somebody's apartment as the police department, you need a warrant. Are they getting warrants, or are they just searching people's apartments using x-ray technology?" Lieberman said. "We don't want to know military secrets. We don't want to know police secrets. We want to know the impact on the public."
A state court ordered the NYPD to turn over information last year, but the department is appealing.
Bratton says the vans are needed to fight terror. He says people shouldn't be worried.
"We have, the vehicles, if you will, are all used lawfully, and if the ACLU and others don't think that's the case, we'll see them in court," he said.
The NYCLU says it doesn't believe the information it is seeking will jeopardize the protection of the city.