The U.S. Department of Energy and Homeland Security's Office of Domestic Preparedness presented the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) transit police with several sets of radiological detection equipment. The equipment, valued at about $7,000, will be used by the Metro Transit Police Department should they have reason to believe that a suspicious package may pose a radiological threat. "We are very happy to have this equipment to supplement the radiological pagers that we currently use in the Metrorail system," said Police Chief Polly Hanson, who put in a request to the federal agencies for the new equipment earlier this month. The radiological pagers are carried by transit officers while they are on routine patrol. The new equipment will be used by police officers and supervisors who are trained specifically to deal with situations where radiation is detected. Chief Hanson said having the equipment serves as a precautionary measure that adds another level of security prevention to WMATA's arsenal.