ATLANTA — As Super Bowl fans flood downtown Atlanta, MARTA police have begun using special enhanced technology to screen visitors from a distance.
Channel 2's Nicole Carr is at the MARTA station outside State Farm Arena, where police are using brand-new scanners that can see straight through the human body.
But most people won't realize every inch of their body is being scanned.
The screening equipment, which scans each and every visitor to come through the station, was brought in to help MARTA police detect potential terrorist threats right around Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Carr got an inside look at how it works Friday.
Much like airport systems, the equipment scans people for dangerous or suspicious packages or devices. Color-enhanced imaging identifies threats in red.
"What you're seeing here is passive standoff detection equipment that allows us to look for suspicious packages or devices on individuals coming into our transit system as they make their way into Super Bowl," Green said.
MARTA Police Commander Maj. Aston Green said that's just the first step in securing a potential threat.
"If something is suspicious, we'll get it verified by a canine. And if it becomes very suspicious, we have officers. We have bomb techs," Green said. "We have all kinds of specialized equipment in place to do a follow-up investigation."
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The $1 million worth of equipment was given to the city specifically for the Super Bowl as part of a partnership with Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration.
Hundreds of TSA workers are helping MARTA police use the technology.
The equipment doesn't stay in Atlanta after the Super Bowl, but if we ever wanted to install it on a permanent basis, MARTA would have a test scenario and a budget to pitch.
Carr spoke to Super Bowl visitors about what they thought about the fact that they are being watched.
"Someone could be concealing (a weapon) and we don't know they're concealing," Debora Lanier Benberry said. "So with the school shootings and all the violence that's been going on in our country, I think that's just awesome technology."
Police say that in addition to the high-tech security and TSA support, MARTA and the GBI are encouraging visitors to download the "See Something, Say Something" app. Users' messages and images go straight to a command center that all law enforcement can tap into.
MARTA Chief of Police Wanda Dunham said they are also relying on the riding public to be the organization's eyes and ears.
"If you even think there's a possibility that something is wrong, you should definitely report it," Dunham said.