DUI Offenders Fitted with Alcohol-Detecting Anklets

Judges in Bexar County, Texas are requiring some DUI offenders to wear an ankle bracelet that uses sweat samples to check on whether the wearer has been drinking alcohol, WOAI-TV reported March 16.

Leroy Chavez, a two-time DUI offender, was required to wear the secure continuous remote alcohol monitor (SCRAM) for 90 days. The device communicates with a modem in the wearer's home and transmits data to a probation officer. "It just eliminated the thought of me having another drink," said Chavez. "When you are sober, you start realizing how many problems there are with drinking and driving, how many people are getting killed, knowing that it could be me behind that wheel, killing someone or maiming somebody because of my alcohol drinking."

"The law requires in many instances that we give an offender the right to be out on bond until they're proven guilt," said Judge Oscar Kazen. "This is a great apparatus to ensure that while they're out, they aren't endangering others."

Chavez added that the SCRAM bracelet gave him a great reason to decline when friends ask him to go out drinking.

Offenders are charged $12 per day for the bracelet; the devices also are used in domestic-violence and child-custody cases where parents have been ordered not to drink.