SCRAM: False or Not?
I have been looking for a realistic study on the tamper device. One report shows 733 confirmed tampers involving 158 offenders, I was 2 of those tampers and yet I did not tamper for delinquent purposes. This report failed to show how many involved a positive alcohol read as well, or how many were notified (by phone, police dispatch etc...) with reasonable certainty that the defendant could make there defense. In short, I'll bet that a vast majority of these confirmed tampers were false alarms but without more information, it appears that many defendants have lost their liberty for sleeping, wearing pants or socks or simply the tether falling down their legs which is quite comfortable after have 8 ounces pulling on your skin with every step for months! An interesting part of the study showed that the were 180 confirmed positives for 63 offenders. It does not take much logic to explain the dramatic increase in "confirmed tampers", for we can almost avoid contact with ethanol in most forms, most everyone wears socks, pants and or sleeps. Another factor not mentioned here is the abrasions. Could the dead skin from the scabbing wound create a tamper?
Today, I am still getting responses from concerned wearers, some charged with allegations that are "virtually" impossible to beat, and some just wearing it. One person claimed " My son was sent to jail for about forty days for two probation violations because his SCRAM unit showed what Jeff Hawthorn called drinking episodes. We went to court and prevailed thanks to a Judge who ordered two probation officers to wear SCRAM units and spend an hour in close proximity to my son and the oven that he works by in a bakery. All three units indicated alcohol consumption. AMS and Jeff Hawthorn need to be held accountable for the losses that people incur do to SCRAM's inability to distinguish consumed alcohol from invirnmental alcohol. Seems as though AMS is able to profit from a hastily marketed product." Remember, you can't fool the SCRAM bracelet, yet another possible way the device can fool the legal community, or are they?$?
Reference:
http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:v0spCOum7jUJ:www.nlectc.org/training/commcorr2006/bock_commcorr2006_comparing.pps+scram+false-positives&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=13&gl=us
Today, I am still getting responses from concerned wearers, some charged with allegations that are "virtually" impossible to beat, and some just wearing it. One person claimed " My son was sent to jail for about forty days for two probation violations because his SCRAM unit showed what Jeff Hawthorn called drinking episodes. We went to court and prevailed thanks to a Judge who ordered two probation officers to wear SCRAM units and spend an hour in close proximity to my son and the oven that he works by in a bakery. All three units indicated alcohol consumption. AMS and Jeff Hawthorn need to be held accountable for the losses that people incur do to SCRAM's inability to distinguish consumed alcohol from invirnmental alcohol. Seems as though AMS is able to profit from a hastily marketed product." Remember, you can't fool the SCRAM bracelet, yet another possible way the device can fool the legal community, or are they?$?
Reference:
http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:v0spCOum7jUJ:www.nlectc.org/training/commcorr2006/bock_commcorr2006_comparing.pps+scram+false-positives&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=13&gl=us
posted by marcellus91872 at 10:36 AM
17 Comments:
My husband is wearing a scram. He is doing very well, not drinking and focusing on recovery. We must go to court this morning because although no alcohol was detected the device showed a day in which it appeared that something was trying to block the scram. The only thing we can think of is that part of his sock may have gotten under the strap. I will be outraged if he goes to jail over this when he is doing so well.
Please, if you are serious about fighting the scram injustice as read in all these blogs, please write me (i am not a lawyer) at fightscraminjustice@gmail.com.
Please give your history while wearing your scram bracelet, along with any incidental information that might be helpful.
We cannot win alone, but in numbers we can. With you in this fight against injustice.
I am a 41 year old English teacher from Ohio. I was convicted of a DUI in 2006. When my school board learned of the offense, they required me to wear an ACTSoft alcohol monitoring bracelt for three years, at my own expense. After an entire year of wearing it without any real problems, my bracelet began showing ethanol readings of .3-.5 over a period of several weeks. I was not informed of this until two weeks later. Because the company does not share the readings with the wearer of the bracelet, I can not be sure, but I believe I am still testing postive for ethanol even as we speak (or write). I have not had a drink since 3/22/07. However I did begin taking the medication Seroquel (which contains ethanol) one week before my positive readings began. The school borad intends to fire me on 4/28, because I can provide no proof that the medication could cause inaccurate readings. I can't believe I'm the only person that has experienced this problem. Any suggestions?
Dr. Hlastala or a physiologist, fight, your not the first to lose a job due to fallocious allegations from modern alcohol detection! Innocent until proven guilty...maybe in another country.
I recently had a false reading of a obstuction. I helped a friend clean his house to get it ready to open a sober living house. I was there from 12:pm until 6:pm on a Saturday. I was using Ajax and Windex and did not think that there might be any problem using these products.After all the company does not give you a list of products that you should not use they only tell you to be careful when using cologne and bathroom products. I went home and manualy uploaded at 7:40pm everything was fine. On Sunday morning I uploaded at 8:12AM and the report stated the STATUS as In Process & the ACTION as wait more data. On Monday I uploaded at 11:12AM and the report came back as A Confirmed Obstruction was placed between the bracelet and the leg from 1:55PM Saturday to 12:14 Sunday. It also said Alcohol is seen under the obstruction. I received a call from them at 3:41PM on Monday informing me of the reading. I told them I do not know why it would show as a obstuction and let them know what I was doing on Saturday. On Tuesday I went to get a Alcohol test done just in case I needed it. I gave a letter and a print out of the reading and the negative alcohol test to my attorney and told him to give it to the judge. He told me not to worry about it. The next thing I received was a warrant for my arrest . I ran into the court to comfront this allegation and was told I needed to have my attorney with me. My attorney showed up and had no knowledge of what to tell the judge and new nothing about the workings of the SCRAM. Now I have a full blown trial . I am desparate to find a attorney who know about the SCRAM in California . I have been completly sober for almost six months and doing great until now. Now I need to defend myself against a machine.
I have tried to call the so called manager in charge of reading the reports and told him how can I block the device when I uploaded during the time of the confirmed blockage. He told me he can not talk to me since he was the one testifying against me.
Well it seems they are trying to use the device according to the Sixth Amendment, however the right of notice of accusation simply states they apprise a defendant of the allegations with REASONABLE CERTAINTY the defendant can make a defense. Reads and uploads are different components, and your read appears to be the most convincing of all, obstruction with alcohol detected? Your friend with the alleged sober living house could be a credible witness, but if I were the judge I would have paid you a visit the night in question. Personally rather let a derelict go than convict the innocent, but I can't stand the derelicts these judges deal with on a daily basis, creates ZEAL.
From what i understand the source code of a device such as a breathalyzer if withheld does not allow a proper defense of an accused. Perhaps there is a way to force this company to reveal it's code without stipulating to it's effectiveness and it will go away such as breathalyzers in Florida. God bless this website and it's creator and to those of you who could hire an attorney to challenge this company. I advise this website creator to have a link to donate money five or ten dollars to his noble and patriotic cause. You are a historic figure and yet you seem so humble and anonymous. Your talents are the salvation to so many of us. Brilliant mind and spirit.
I think you can take some cutters to clips and loosen the four screws that are clamping the bracelet together,backing out the strap but not to far were it isn't constantly in contact w the clamp. Slide it off ur foot and immediately place on a sober person, retighten the strap and the four screws. Now the clips u broke need to be super glued so from the outside u can't tell it was tampered w. Im goin to try this after Xmas cuz I have nothin to lose, I'm goin to prison a week later anyways. I am confident this would work.
Very Concerned SCRAM user. Hi there, I am in a program called OVI court in Newark Ohio for a recent dui conviction that I recieved. I have had the scram on for almost 5 months with zero violations and the day before my scram was scheduled to come off I was acused of 11 tampers and 11 readings over a period of 3 days prior to the date of take off of a very low alcohol consumption and I have no way of explaining how this may have happened. I have been sober since May 18th of May 2011 and I am devistated about this false reading and I have no way to defend myself. I spent almost 2 days in jail and sentenced to 20 additional hours of community service. What can I do to clear my name because I did not do this and there has to be a way to do something to prove my innocence.
Hello out there to all accused of false/positives. I'm out of Denver, CO and sentenced to SCRAM-pretrial out of Arapahoe County, CO. I've been wearing my device since 12/2011 and have not had one drink of any alcohol. Since then, I've had over 14 tampering accusations and not 1 time did it detect any ethanol. It's been extremely cold outside and due to weather conditions (AMS) has announced that as, "ENVIRONMENTAL" so please be sure to check into that as well. I'm on trial for my 3rd DUI incident. 1st: 06/1994, 2nd: 04/2004 then 11/2011. According to the judge, I'm considered as "Habitual" eventhough I haven't been convicted of the 3rd DUI, there seems to be no way around this. (maybe we should write our congressman). If anything, I should be the #1 suspect for alcohol use. One thing for sure is that the SCRAM unit is faulty of is, tampering for no appearant reason. Anyway, thank you for this site and hopefully we can get legistlation to do away with this program and it's entirety. You have my vote!
I do not have the Scram device though I would have preferred it. I have the IID, Ignition Interlock Device and it lost an important promotion for me because my license says "restricted". But I must agree with every one. I DO NOT DRINK ALCOHOL. JUST HATE IT. JUST NOT FOR ME. But in Arizona you get the IID for refusing to take a breathalyzer. I have constant "failed blows", "invalid blows", and as I said, I DO NOT DRINK. When an IID user gets "failed blow", "missed blow", or "invalid blows",they are forced to keep the device in their cars for 6 more months. AT $85 a month. THEREFORE IT IS PROFITABLE FOR THESE ALCOHOL DEVICE COMPANIES TO LET THESE PROBLEMS GO ON UNFIXED.I purchased "alcohol free" mouthwash as the IID company told me to, and still get "failed blows" whenever I use it. PLEASE PEOPLE, REPORT THESE PROBLEMS TO THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU @ www.bbb.org as I did. The more complaints the more likely they will have to fix these problems and pay people for false readings. And do a seperate report for the company that makes the device, another for the office that makes you have it, and the company that installs (or puts it on you). They all HAVE TO ANSWER AND EXPLAIN. Some of the explanations are ridiculous but still, after several complaints they will have to fix these problems or quit requiring the device. I made a seperate BBB report for the maker (Monitech), another for MVD (DMV) for requiring the faulty device, and another against the installers. Their answers are so bad BBB is questioning National Highway Safety Board about these issues and why they let these faulty devices be used. THANKS TO WHOMEVER STARTED THIS SITE. MAKE REPORTS PEOPLE, THEN THEY WILL HAVE TO REMEDY THE SITUATION.
I wore the scram for 3 months. I went camping and there were bugs in the trailer. I sprayed raid and later that night slept there. Found out the next week that the scram detected a drinking incident from around 10 Sat-8 Sunday. The readings were between .002 and the highest was .046 in the morning. The graph dropped to 0 after I got out of the trailer, which is impossible. In addition I had a urine test the next day (negative) the type that shows up for three days if you drank and I went and got my hair tested, also negative. We also hired a scram graph expert who read the graph and said that even by the amounts they test by it could not have been a drinking incident. They also said that there was tampering and that is why it went to 0. The problem was it spiked as a tamper much later than it dropped to zero. And if what they were saying was true it would have spiked back up showing I still had alcohol in my system. I am one of the lucky ones to have so much proof, but the scram people would not change their report. The DA dismissed it, but it can be considered in future violations. And when I get out of jail I have to wear one again, makes me sick that I proved them wrong and the courts still trust them 100% The scram people would not talk to me or my lawyer, they have complete authority on this, you can't even question them. I can't believe that. Pathetic.
If you have this predicament I would be more than happy to read your graph and see if I can find how it was read wrong. Been studying mine and actually got the case dropped! They are less than 100 correct.
You can email me at jpjeanniep@yahoo.com
What was the outcome?
I am supposed get the scram ankle bracelet put on in a few days but I work in a refineaer with alot of exposure gases will the bracelet be a problem. The Web site for it said not to wear in areas with exposed to gases
I am supposed get the scram ankle bracelet put on in a few days but I work in a refineaer with alot of exposure gases will the bracelet be a problem. The Web site for it said not to wear in areas with exposed to gases
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