Friday, March 13, 2009

SCRAM: In The Name of Justice

As I continue to get reports of false-positive, and wearers contact me in distress trying to figure out how to prove their innocents, it is nice to see AMS has constructively solved the problems! The device works, but there is only one way to read the report constructively, that's in compliance with the Constitution.

"Has "Big Brother" gone too far?

Updated: March 12, 2009 02:51 AM

Instead of going to jail, a high-tech bracelet gives some a second chance to prove themselves, keep their jobs and stay with their families.

But as Contact 13 Chief Investigator Darcy spears reports, some say it's a dangerous device that's putting innocent people in jail.

In the beginning, Ken Cooper thought, "this can't be happening."

The twice-convicted D-U-I offender isn't here to make excuses for himself.

"Definitely made some mistakes."

He's been to jail and he's served his time.

For part of his sentence, the court ordered him to wear a secure continuous remote alcohol monitoring device called SCRAM.

But Cooper and many others say SCRAM is a scam.

"In the beginning I thought, I'm just gonna go with the program and hope for the best. And right off the bat I had nothing but problems. It wasn't reading right. I had to go into their office. They had to use this magnetizing thing on it a few times."

The SCRAM device is worn on the bare leg just above the ankle.

It can tell if you've been drinking by measuring the alcohol that comes out your pores.

You can't take it off and it keeps tabs on you 24/7.

When Ken had it on, court documents show it kept reporting he was drinking again, even though he was ordered not to.

This time, he says he knew he was innocent.

"I can see how maybe the positive readings came, I mean, I work in a place where there's a lot of alcohol. But they assured me that there's no way that a spill or this or that can cause the monitor to go off."

The SCRAM manufacturer admits the device can't be worn by people who work at ethanol fuel plants, by diabetics, and there's even a list of items to avoid because they contain alcohol.

SCRAM can detect everything from deodorant and hair spray to household cleaners, cologne, perfume, lotions, gasoline, and mouthwash.

At Ken Cooper's job, he was surrounded by most of that, and lots of alcohol too.

At the time, he worked at Tao nightclub and Tao beach inside the Venetian.

"I ended up losing my job."

After he ended up in jail.

"Before I could even say anything I'm in handcuffs and like, words can't even describe. I was just in awe," Cooper recounts from a court hearing last Spring.

Court documents detail what his SCRAM device was reporting.

Repeated drinking events--all at times when he says he was at work.

"I've made mistakes but I was following the rules."

For non-compliance with SCRAM, Henderson Judge Mark Stevens sentenced Cooper to 17 days in jail.

"It was the toughest 17 days ever."

Soon after he got out, SCRAM reported a new violation.

Cooper and his attorney, Scott Holper, had had enough.

"We conducted a lot of research which indicated that this device was creating false positives," Holper says.

Internet bloggers say "The product is putting a lot of honest people in jail."

"The company and the court is playing Russian roulette with someone's life."

And "Chances are you will go to jail - even if you are not guilty! So much for justice..."

In Ken Cooper's case, his attorney says SCRAM did some research.

"They performed a study in which it was determined that the alcohol was airborne," says Holper.

And the same judge who threw Cooper in jail for the first set of violations ordered the SCRAM device taken off his leg, "in the interest of justice."

"So our concern, and the reason why we are filing a lawsuit against SCRAM and the City of Henderson, is to prevent individuals from being incarcerated for actions that they did not commit," Holper explains.

Because of that pending lawsuit, neither SCRAM nor the City of Henderson would go on camera.

A City spokesperson told Contact 13 there were some concerns that the device may have been giving incorrect readings in Ken Cooper's case.

And a SCRAM rep said there are a handful of situations that come up with a red flag where they will ask the court to rescind the device.

SCRAM says its rate of false positives is better than most other testing methods at one per 1600.

People like Ken Cooper say that's one too many.

"I was doing what I was supposed to be doing and I got punished for it."

According to SCRAM, the device is used on both first-time and multiple D-U-I offenders as well as underage offenders.

It's also used in domestic violence and drug court cases and in family court when alcohol is a contributing factor.

SCRAM says since 2005, they've monitored more than 1,440 Nevadans and currently have 198 people in our state on their system."


This gentleman is not the first to lose a job over erroneous convictions, and I have seen so many lose their children while cleaning the child's dwelling, something a simple dispatch could remedy. Remember the Sixth Amendment!


Do not separate text from historical background. If you do, you will have
perverted and subverted the Constitution, which can only end in a distorted,
bastardized form of illegitimate government.
James Madison (1751-1836)

http://www.ktnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=9988223

22 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey here's an idea, DON"T DRINK AND DRIVE!!! My cousin is paralyzed from the waist down from some jackass like you that, yes did have the right to consume alcohol, but DID NOT have the right to drive aftwerwards and consequently ruin my cousins life. I wish they would attach a ball and chain to your ankle sir, maybe if that was the punishment for DUI you wouldn't have done it. News flash asshole, IF YOU DON'T BREAK THE LAW, YOU WILL NOT BE PUNISHED.

4:33 PM  
Blogger marcellus91872 said...

Not all offenses have to do with DUI> How would you like it if they claimed you family unfit to care for your cousin, make it so you could not see him and charge you with the court costs for cleaning his dwelling? This is not punishment nor treatment. Jail, fines, loss of license are consequences, but disregarding the Constitution is a slap in the face to the men who died to write it. Man who would chose security over liberty deserves neither- Thomas Jefferson.

10:41 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

God, that mentality of "well if you wouldn't have screwed up you wouldnn't be in this position", is so uniquely ignorant and stupid, and so AMERICAN! Uniquely so!

Anyone who is unjustly imprisoned, criminal or not, due to improperly tested technology, no matter how it landed on the person's leg, should have people screaming.

The scaary part is that people who are stopped and are under the legal amount to drive are getting this horrible contraption and they too are finding their cases escalated due to a false report of drinking or obstruction.

I'm sure that your cousin is all for throwing a net so wide that dolphins and sharks and hell let's get a few ducks in there as well.

I appreciate your emotionalism to this very difficult issue, but it is you, "sir" who is being the asshole!"

11:05 AM  
Blogger Jim Giles said...

I'm a reporter with New Scientist magazine. I'm writing about the SCRAM tether and would like to ask you a few questions about some of the issues you discuss on this blog. It'd be great if you could get in touch: jim.giles@newscientist.com

4:41 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I was recently notified of a false positive "drinking event" on my SCRAM device. I have not had a drink since May 17th, 2008. I have been wearing scram since November of 2008. I am going to court next thursday on a motion to revoke probation from the state, due to recorded drinking events. One event was on Saturday night, where I was out with friends who know that I do not drink, and would not let me drink if I tried to. The second was the next day, recorded from 5P.M. until 5:45 A.M., and I clocked in to work at 6:00 a.m.

This is pretty scary, I'll post what happens if I don't go to jail.

9:23 AM  
Blogger marcellus91872 said...

Witness from your place of employment are very credible, are they really going to committ perjury for you?!

11:44 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Perjury? What?

10:45 AM  
Blogger marcellus91872 said...

They most likely are not going to lie for you.

10:54 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Who said I was lying? I did not drink. I showed up to work sober.

11:44 AM  
Blogger marcellus91872 said...

OK, again in plain English, Your co-workers are credible (believable) because they are not going to committ perjury (hypothetically-lie and say you weren't drinking when you were). In other words if you were at work you should be able to beat the case.

11:48 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Okay, alcohol is legal. How can the court order you not to drink alcohol? I can see the not drinking and driving thing but if you're at your own home and want to have a drink, since alcohol IS LEGAL, then I don't think it's any of the court's business. That's like them telling you that you can't drink a Pepsi cos you're addicted to caffeine. Too many judges have the power of God and the sense of a milk cow (sorry for offending milk cows everywhere). Drinking and DRIVING is illegal but that's not what this case is about. Sorry, but as long as alcohol is legal, and you're of age, then you have the right to drink. Oh, and to the first commenter, he wasn't charged this time with drinking and driving. He didn't paralyze your cousin. We're talking about our rights here and if you want to keep yours, then you have to give him HIS rights. You can't have it both ways so you decide what is more important to you.

1:55 AM  
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6:56 PM  
Blogger AuddreyMarx said...

Look, if you're drinking has resulted in your being arrested not just once but TWO TIMES, and serving jail time, it's probably safe to say that you have a problem. So, as tragic as that is, I do not have any sympathy for an Alcoholic who continues to work in an environment filled with alcohol. If those working conditions are resulting in false negatives, maybe it's time to get a new job.
I also think that 1:1600 is not bad. If you're in the position to need one of these things then you've put yourself there. If one person, out of 1600, ends up doing some undeserved jail time (on these charges anyway) and it's keeping the other 1599 from drinking and driving, then so be it. Nothing in this world is perfect.

3:43 PM  
Blogger marcellus91872 said...

One in 1000 is their numbers, my research shows far greater. Also, jail, fines, probation etc... is not being debated, what is is the fact that peoples children are being taken, livelihoods lost due to the fact that the device cannot distinguish between external contaminents and consumption. One case I helped on the woman lost her children for cleaning the bathroom, if thats the country you wish to live in than go. In the meanwhile I will continue to fight for what our forefathers set forth, as Ben Franklin stated, one who would chose security over liberty deserves neither!

10:17 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Marcellus- Irishmossy here- been awhile.....Curious- haven't spoken to holper in awhile- did he eventually bring suit against scram, or settle?

Just so everyone knows, I like you have a catalogue of hundreds of emails from all over the country from people who complain of false positives for the very same issue...that is a drinking level of .03-.04 and accusations of tampering. As what happened to my husband in 2007.

I set up a facebook page under the name Les McCallister with info there that folks can pull off for their lawyers and would hope people will leave stuff there too. Now with lohan fighting maybe something more will come to light for the rest of the public

1:40 PM  
Blogger marcellus91872 said...

This is a money market for laywers and others are afraid of loss, no real interest in justice amongst our legal community.
Lohan is derelict to the terms of her probation and not once would I believe she didn't drink should it report alcohol. However, if she obstructed with no alcohol detected...

2:02 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i dont know if any of you hve had THIS problem. My scram unit was put on 22 days ago, I have had no positve or false positive results BUT I have had the piece of crap rack in the corner and then the side piece where the straps attach start to pull away and my P.O said I was tampering with it, she wouldnt listen to me at all , she did say she was going to let it slide this time...WHAT the hell did i do to make that thin crack and loosen like that ....GAWD Im scared to death to walk, move anything.....Anyone with a simular story would love to hear....thank you

8:41 PM  
Anonymous Scram Bracelet Diaries said...

I find your blog to be very interesting, but scary. I will have SCRAM put on this week and have many questions about what to expect so I am blogging about my experience at http://scrambraceletdiaries.com
To the individual whose cousin was paralyzed as a result of a drunk driver, I am SO sorry. I agree with everything you said. Drinking and driving is absolutely inexcusable. Unfortunately I made the terrible decision to drive impaired and realize that I could have drastically changed someone's life (as in the case of your cousin) or even taken a life. It is because of my experience that I will never get behind the wheel of a vehicle impaired and I am now making it my mission to share my story to try to prevent others from making the same mistake that I did. God bless, and again I am so sorry about your cousin.

2:37 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is def unconstitutional in some cases and it's scary to see how many false positive readings happen. If you can choose the monitor over jail time it probably is a blessing however judges are no doubt excessively orderings this and in my case unlawfully. I'm not yet formally charged with any crime and my arrest was not alcohol related. I can't understand how or why the judge order me to wear this, no doubt it's $$$$

12:02 AM  
Blogger Doorguy06 said...

You're an idiot and you are what wrong with this country. Hopefully your cousin can't reproduce now.

6:27 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Just wanted to let everyone know on the site that a new class action federal lawsuit is starting here in New York and this federal class action lawsuit will extend to every state of the United States of America. This class action will extend to the entire United States and I need a Plaintiff from every state. This federal lawsuit will be brought under the federal Multi District Litigation Act, and will get under way very soon. What I need is you to email or call with your name, what happened to you, and what SCRAM and AMS did. If you want to be apart of this, lets get things going quickly. This case will be different from the federal class action that is pending in Los Angeles. That case has only two Class Plaintiffs and is not enough to rise to a nationwide class the way it stands. I am working with a new set of attorneys and we are taking it to the next biggest level. Please send an email or call me at :   Anthony.oliver29@rocketmail.com:  And you can call me at  (818) 624-2504.  Lets bring justice to all of those who deserve it.  Thank you.   -  Anthony Oliver

7:20 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Just wanted to let everyone know on the site that a new class action federal lawsuit is starting here in New York and this federal class action lawsuit will extend to every state of the United States of America. This class action will extend to the entire United States and I need a Plaintiff from every state. This federal lawsuit will be brought under the federal Multi District Litigation Act, and will get under way very soon. What I need is you to email or call with your name, what happened to you, and what SCRAM and AMS did. If you want to be apart of this, lets get things going quickly. This case will be different from the federal class action that is pending in Los Angeles. That case has only two Class Plaintiffs and is not enough to rise to a nationwide class the way it stands. I am working with a new set of attorneys and we are taking it to the next biggest level. Please send an email or call me at :   Anthony.oliver29@rocketmail.com:  And you can call me at  (818) 624-2504.  Lets bring justice to all of those who deserve it.  Thank you.   -  Anthony Oliver

7:20 PM  

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