PRESS RELEASE

(9/25/2006)

Alcohol/DUI Bracelets Implemented in South Dakota

Monitors alcohol consumption through sweat emissions

PIERRE, S.D. - Attorney General Larry Long said today that his office will begin implementing the use of a special ankle bracelet to expand his 24/7 Sobriety Project to rural areas of South Dakota.

SCRAM, or the Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor, is an 8 oz. leg bracelet that monitors alcohol consumption by analysis of the emissions from the wearer’s sweat glands. Tests are random and the subject has no idea when the testing will take place. The information is transmitted though a modem placed in the subject’s home via conventional phone line and emailed to the agency assigned to testing. The testing agency has the ability to customize testing schedules and monitor subject tests at any time.

Many 24/7 Project defendants have difficulty traveling to a testing site to submit twice-a-day breath tests," said Long. "The bracelets would play a key role in filling the void for those counties that do not have jails and allow defendants from remote areas of South Dakota to benefit from this program."

The State has received 25 of 100 bracelets purchased by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The cost of daily use will be $4.30 per day per user. State officials will charge wearers for part or all of the related costs. Major alcohol distributors have donated monies to help defray some of the costs. Those distributors include: Anheuser-Busch, $10,000; Brown-Forman Corporation, $5,000; The Century Council, $10,000; Coors Brewing Company, $3000.

The State has distributed the first 25 bracelets as follows: Pennington County 10, Minnehaha County 10 and the Department of Correction 5. The bracelets are currently being used in 37 states and a product of Alcohol Monitoring Systems (AMS), a Colorado based company. AMS manufactures the world’s only continuous alcohol testing system that uses Transdermal Analysis to measure alcohol consumption.

If you need additional information about this program contact Sara Rabern at 605-773-3215.

Originally published here.