Ankle Device to Monitor Alcohol Intake in DUI Offenders

New York’s Nassau County is among the first in the state that plans to use electronic ankle bracelets on serious drunk driving offenders, which would allow probation officers to check their alcohol consumption.

The device, called Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitoring (SCRAM), works by registering the offender’s level of perspiration. Once a day, the offender must setup the bracelet next to a modem that will download the data collected during the day and send it to a central computer. The probation officer is then able to log in and monitor the alcohol intake anytime.

“This will help us to do what we have been unable to do until now, monitor recidivist drunk drivers,” said Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice.

The electronic bracelets will be funded by a $110,000 state grant that will also pay for other technology to battle drunk driving like state-of-art- cameras to tape drivers taking sobriety tests and education videos.

Nassau and Suffolk counties will begin using the ankle bracelets in the next few months. According to spokesman Jack Ryan, New York City probation will not use the ankle bracelets because drunk driving charges are not as high a priority as drug-related or violent crime.

Many local criminal defense lawyers in the counties that will use the devices have raised concerns about whether the bracelets are violating their clients’ rights. “There’s no way this thing has been tested constitutionally,” said Salvatore Marinello, head of the Nassau County Bar Association’s Criminal Law and Procedure Committee.

According to one defense lawyer Stephen Scaring, the government will have too much power with the ankle bracelet plan. “When information from your body is downloaded to a probation officer, that strikes me as a bit of a slipper slope,” he said.

Law enforcement officials note that every drunk driving offender voluntarily agrees to the terms of their probation—even if it means using the ankle bracelet. If the offender does not want to wear the device, their alternative is to stay in prison.

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