High-Tech Breath Testers to Catch Drunk Drivers

A new alcohol testing system combines traditional breath testing with government-grade facial mapping.

The technology is being used for long-term, unsupervised alcohol testing of first-time and low-level drunk drivers.

SCRAM Remote Breath is a portable, handheld device that can require a subject to take an unsupervised breath test on a schedule, randomly or on-demand based on the requirements of the supervising agency.

The facial recognition software, known as Automated Facial Intelligence (AFI), digitally maps the facial structures of test takers as they conduct a test, and then automatically matches those images to confirmed, baseline images of the client stored within the system.

The AFI is designed to ensure the person taking the unsupervised breath test is the offender required to submit to testing.

According to Denver-based Alcohol Monitoring Systems (AMS), which manufactures and markets SCRAM Remote Breath, the technology automatically identifies between 90 and 95 percent of the photos captured each day. The remaining 5 to 10 percent are flagged for manual review by law enforcement.