KTUU.com | Alaska's news and information source | Technical glitches may hinder alcohol monitoring accuracy
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by Angela Unruh
Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2007
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Fourteen percent of Alaska's population is believed to suffer from alcoholism; that's twice the national average.
Every year, that booze makes its way onto our roads and last year, drunk drivers killed six people.
But for those convicted of DUIs, out on bail or on probation, there is a way to make sure they never endanger our streets again. It's called alcohol ankle monitoring.
Meet Lane Bottemiller, a tour director who has volunteered to wear an alcohol ankle monitor for 24 hours.
Bottemiller arrives at Alaska Monitoring Services, where he is greeted by Erin Johnson, an operations manager for the company, who is prepared to install the monitoring device on him.
In order to avoid false readings from the start, Johnson gives Bottemiller a breath alcohol test, which affirms that he has not been drinking prior to his visit to AMS.
The ankle monitor, called SCRAM, or secured continuous remote alcohol monitoring, has an infrared lens that can detect tampering. It also records body temperature and collects, stores and transmits the person's blood alcohol content at least every hour.
As a person drinks alcohol, they sweat it out of their pores, and that's when the device detects drinking.
Johnson gives our volunteer some advice before sending him on his way.
"Be aware of any alcohol products that you use, such as environmental, even though the bracelet will know the difference and it will interpret the difference," she tells Bottemiller.
He is also given a GPS ankle monitor to keep track of his location at all times.
"At least the bulges in my jeans here will be matching," says Bottemiller.
With the devices hooked up, we set out to begin a series of experiments to test the devices.
Our first stop is at a bar, where Bottemiller orders a pitcher of Alaskan Amber. He takes his first sip at 11:50 a.m. and by 12:21 p.m. he has downed the entire pitcher, which equals about four pints.
Bottemiller then orders a second pitcher and by 12:45 p.m., he has finished his seventh pint.
The monitor vibrates each time it takes a reading of Bottemiller's blood alcohol level, and at this point, he says his ankle has vibrated twice.
"I'm surprised there have not been more," he said.
By 1:03 p.m., Bottemiller has finished two pitchers, or eight pints of beer.
"One hour and nine minutes, 2 pitchers, I'm drunk," he says.
We keep a detailed log of his drinking to see if the data from the ankle monitor will match up to ours and drive Bottemiller home with a to-do list for the night that includes tampering with the monitor, using alcohol-based products and drinking more.
The following morning at 10 o'clock Bottemiller returns to AMS and runs through his overnight activities.
"Throughout the 24-hour period, I did a variety of tampering attempts, including placing plastic between the ankle bracelet that senses to my skin, seeing that if maybe it would fool the system," he tells Johnson at AMS.
Bottemiller also used a variety of alcohol based products like mouthwash and cologne, while consuming more alcoholic beverages.
"I was not intoxicated in the middle of the day, and then had about 3 more beers that evening and a little bit more to drink. So we'll see if the sensors detect that," he said.
The first report AMS delivers is his GPS locations.
"This is where you were at our office at 11:19. It shows you going this way on New Seward and Fireweed," said Johnson.
The monitor shows Bottemiller's every move in detail and arrows show his direction and speed of travel.
The GPS was accurate but what about the SCRAM unit? As data from the monitor is downloaded, we're shown what the readings should look like. These are not Bottemiller's results.
They do show that he was using alcohol and attempting to tamper with the monitor.
"Something was definitely placed in-between the bracelet or they were definitely tampering with it to try to get it off their leg," Johnson said.
The download of our data is taking longer than expected and Johnson calls SCRAM headquarters in Colorado. She's told to administer an alcohol swab test on the bracelet.
"This swab test will let us know because if the bracelet just didn't pick up alcohol, if it won't pick up this test that we just ran, it wouldn't have picked it up no matter what," she said.
She gets back on the phone and explains that the monitor is brand new and worked normal during installation on Bottemiller's ankle. She then asks SCRAM headquarters whether AMS should return it.
"So you want us to send the bracelet back?" she asks.
The result: our alcohol ankle monitor didn't detect any alcohol or tampering.
"(SCRAM headquarters) is saying that it's something internally with just this particular bracelet that won't register, it won't measure any alcohol at all," says Johnson. "(They're) interested to get it back, tear it apart to find out definitely what the reason was ... If that was a real client, we would be in some trouble. Generally, like I've said, I've never seen that happen myself. For the most part, we catch every little incident that's occurred."
Currently, AMS has 70 clients on this particular monitor, but says it has many other no-fail checks, like weekly office visits and a modem that would have notified officials the bracelet was not working.
They are checks that are fool-proof, and, they contend, checks that are saving lives.
It's important to point out that our volunteer, Bottemiller, did not take home a modem, like all clients are required to do. If he would have, AMS officials say the modem would have notified them that the monitor was not reporting what it should have been reporting and the client would have been called in, at which time the bracelet would have been replaced.
Officials claim they have someone look at each person's data at least once every 24 hours, and the fact that the bracelet failed is not an indication for them to change anything.
