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