Known as Automated Facial Intelligence (AFI), the first-of-its-kind technology is part of a new system called SCRAM Remote Breath, a portable, handheld breath test system that snaps an offender's picture during a test and digitally matches it to a baseline photo. Offenders sentenced to monitoring with SCRAM Remote Breath carry the mobile device 24/7 and complete unsupervised breath tests either on a set schedule, randomly or on-demand as required by the court. The AFI ensures only the offender sentenced to monitoring is actually taking the breath test.
SCRAM Remote Breath is entering a market known for mobile breath testing systems that require corrections officers to manually review and attempt to match thousands of photos daily to determine if the right person is taking the tests. In comparison, the SCRAM AFI technology digitally maps facial structure and ultimately reduces the demand on staff time and resources by 90 to 95 percent, while also increasing the accuracy of those confirmations.
According to Lou Sugo, vice president of Marketing for Alcohol Monitoring Systems (AMS), which manufactures and markets the SCRAM Systems line of alcohol and location monitoring technologies, the company spent 10 years delivering its flagship 24/7 transdermal product, the Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor (SCRAM CAM), and has monitored more than 300,000 high-risk, hardcore drunk drivers. "But we know that the judicial system needs options when it comes to monitoring alcohol-involved offenders," says Sugo. "Courts and law enforcement need a high-intensity technology, like our transdermal system, but they also need to be able to reliably monitor a whole host of alcohol-involved offenders—such as first-time drunk drivers and minors in possession—who require supervision, but not the intensity or cost of a 24/7 transdermal technology," he says.
