WATERTOWN, Mass. -- A Massachusetts company is helping to make this month's historic elections in Iraq a little safer.

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Amalia Barreda Reports On Device

NewsCenter 5's Amalia Barreda reported that Michael White, the New England distributor for a state-of-the-art portable metal detector made by Security Detections, said he got a surprise call recently from a U.S. military commander in Iraq.

"The reason the military chose this unit is they can move it from polling place to polling place and have it up and running in no time at all," said White.

With the Iraqi elections on Jan. 30, the commander needed the detectors shipped as soon as possible.

"They needed the detectors right away, so we shipped them next day air out of an Air Force base in South Carolina," White said.

In all, the company shipped 134 units to the military from Massachusetts, Ohio, and a sister company in Oklahoma.

The detector has a unique feature that signals with red and green lights where on the body a person would be carrying a metal object. It takes less than five minutes to assemble the unit, weighs just 90 pounds and moves easily on wheels.

"It's completely rainproof; it can be used indoors or outdoors," said White.

White said for him, it hasn't just been about doing business with the military.

"It's historic. A country that's never been allowed to vote is now having democracy for the first time and metal detectors that came out of Watertown are going to be part of that," he said.