2 billion alcohol tests later, famous alcohol anklet has changed the face of community corrections

DENVER, May 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Colorado-based Alcohol Monitoring Systems (AMS) announced that its flagship technology, SCRAM Continuous Alcohol Monitoring^® (SCRAM CAM^®), surpassed 2 billion alcohol readings. The milestone highlights how the alcohol monitoring bracelet, once seen as a quirky novelty for drunken celebrities, has become a trusted solution to help communities address drunk driving and alcohol-related crime.

When a college friend was killed by a repeat drunk driver, SCRAM CAM inventor Jeff Hawthorne was driven to create a better way to monitor alcohol-involved criminal offenders out in the community. In 2003, after a decade of research and testing, AMS launched the ankle bracelet system, which automatically samples a person's sweat, every half hour, in order to measure for alcohol consumption. To-date the technology has monitored more than 483,000 alcohol-fueled clients in the United States, the UK and Canada.

"As with many of the most pioneering technologies of our time, SCRAM CAM was invented in Jeff's garage," says Mike Iiams, president and CEO of AMS. According to Iiams, the 2 billion readings represent more than just a milestone for the company. "It means safer communities, reduced repeat offenses and hundreds of thousands of lives that have been changed for the better," says Iiams. "This technology has completely re-engineered the way officials monitor and manage drunk drivers."

Making a difference
Iiams says that the technology, which is now widely used by courts, probation/parole and departments of corrections, has had an unintended outcome that AMS didn't anticipate when it first began monitoring offenders for the Michigan Department of Corrections in 2003.

"We knew this technology would be of value to the people who work in community corrections, and that it would keep communities safer while offenders are being monitored. What we didn't anticipate is that we would hear from hundreds upon thousands of offenders—or their loved ones—who reach out to tell us that this technology has helped them get sober long enough to actually change the course of their lives. It isn't often you get to say you changed the world, but Jeff's invention did just that."

About Alcohol Monitoring Systems, Inc. (AMS)
Established in 1997, Alcohol Monitoring Systems, Inc. (AMS) is the world's leading provider of alcohol testing technologies for the criminal justice industry. The company's flagship Continuous Alcohol Monitoring (CAM) technology, launched in 2003, revolutionized the way courts, agencies and treatment providers monitor and manage alcohol-involved offenders. In 2013 the company launched the SCRAM Systems suite of electronic monitoring technologies, which includes SCRAM Remote Breath^®, SCRAM GPS^®, and SCRAM House Arrest^®. AMS employs 200 people worldwide and is a privately-held company headquartered in Littleton, Colorado.

Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWHNlaZbULQ

SOURCE Alcohol Monitoring Systems, Inc.

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http://www.scramsystems.com