Andy Dick's Alcohol Monitor: How Does it Work?

Device Tests the Air Above a Person's Skin

When comedian and actor Andy Dick, who starred in television's "NewsRadio" and "Less Than Perfect," faced a judge recently, he was ordered to wear an ankle bracelet that would monitor his alcohol level for one year. While, it's common and more well known for a court to order someone to wear a bracelet that tracks the defendant's location via a GPS system, exactly how does an alcohol monitor work?

Dick pleaded guilty to a charge of battery and marijuana possession in California after he was arrested for grabbing a 17-year old woman's tank top and bra and pulling them down. Other charges of drunkenness and possession of medication without a prescription were dismissed.

In the past, court testing usually involved manually taking blood, breath, or urine tests. There were even attempts to use sweat patches worn on one's wrist. The newer technology eliminates that labor-intensive method in favor of a more high-tech solution. The alcohol monitor Dick will wear remotely monitors a person to make sure they are not drinking. The device is called SCRAM, which stands for Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor and is manufactured by Alcohol Monitoring Systems, Inc. (AMS).

The system can automatically check the defendant every half hour, 24/7. The five and one-half ounce bracelet works by taking a sample of the perspiration on the skin to see if there is any ethanol vapor present - a sure sign someone has been drinking. More specifically, the device actually takes a sample of the air above the skin. It's so sensitive that it can tell the difference between perfumes or colognes and alcohol.

The device stores the data and then sends it by way of a wireless radio-frequency signal to a monitor, which then transmits it to AMS for analysis. Called SCRAMNET, the analysis provides reports and graphs detailing the defendant's behavior over a period of time. The company then reports to the court if there are any problems such as an alcohol reading or evidence the bracelet has been tampered with.