DENVER, CO—Alcohol Monitoring Systems (AMS) has announced that the next generation of its alcohol-sensing ankle bracelets has been enhanced with additional industry-leading anti-tamper technology features.
Known as SCRAM® II (short for Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor), the bracelets, which are currently in use in more than 1600 jurisdictions in 45 states, include a sleeker, lighter and more ergonomic design. The SCRAM II bracelets were introduced to the market in limited production in January 2008, and are now generally available and have additional anti-tamper features including a “hot strap” that indicates if the strap has been cut by an offender. Other new anti-tamper features include improved IR technology, improved durability, better fit, and improved submersion detection.
Says Don White, vice president of Field Operations for AMS, “The increased data that the bracelet collects from these enhancements will all work together to help us continue improving our service to courts and probation departments that are utilizing SCRAM. Since we launched SCRAM II in January of this year, it has been well received by the courts and we believe that the additional anti-tamper sensors will add even more value to the product.”
New Design, Same System Components for Legal Precedence
According to White, the new release has been in development and testing for more than two years, and AMS has intentionally carried over the same internal system components to the new design, to ensure continuity when it comes to court validation of SCRAM’s reliability. “We’ve had nearly 5 years in the field, proving reliability within the judicial system in every state with aSCRAM program, so it’s essential for the courts that we carry those already-proven system components over into each generation of the bracelet,” says White. To date, in addition to court challenges in all 45 states using SCRAM, AMS says they’ve successfully won more than 50 evidentiary hearings, where SCRAM met the standards of Frye, Daubert or FRE 702-703, depending on the standard used in each jurisdiction.
On the market since April of 2003, the SCRAM system includes a high-tech bracelet that actually samples a person’s sweat, every half hour 24 × 7, to monitor for alcohol consumption. Known as Continuous Alcohol Monitoring (CAM), SCRAM is the only commercially- available CAM product on the market today. The company says that through March 2008, the SCRAM system has conducted more than 116 million alcohol tests on over 61,000 offenders.
About Alcohol Monitoring Systems, Inc.
Established in 1997, Alcohol Monitoring Systems, Inc. manufactures SCRAM®, the world’s only Continuous Alcohol Monitoring system, which uses non-invasive transdermal analysis to monitor alcohol consumption.SCRAM fully automates the alcohol testing and reporting process, providing courts and community corrections agencies with the ability to continuously monitor alcohol offenders, increase offender accountability and assess compliance with sentencing requirements and treatment guidelines. Since its launch to the marketplace in 2003, SCRAM has monitored more than 53,000 offenders and is now in use in 45 states. Alcohol Monitoring Systems employs 98 people across the U.S. and is a privately held company headquartered in Littleton, Colorado.