Alcohol Screening Shifts to Autonomous Kiosks: For Real

Consider this: Minneapolis-based Precision Kiosk Technologies announced t that it has begun introducing its Automated Breathalyzer Kiosk (AB Kiosk) to law enforcement agencies and correctional facilities in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Portage County Justice Programs, and the Sheriffs’ Offices of St. Croix County and Racine County in Wisconsin recently began using this new technology to screen specific segments of their offender populations.

The AB Kiosk is a secure, autonomous system that is designed to fully automate alcohol screening that is widely conducted by sheriff offices. In many states, judges assign offenders to refrain from using alcohol as a condition of release, probation, extended supervision, or diversion program. To monitor this directive, offenders are required to submit to random, periodic alcohol screening, an administrative process that is both costly and burdensome for many jurisdictions.

The AB Kiosk system reduces the supervisory burden and costs of court-mandated alcohol screening by integrating two primary components – an interactive alcohol-screening kiosk and a robust, cloud-based offender-management software program.

The interactive Kiosk uses biometric fingerprint authentication to verify the identity of the individual, captures still images and video as it administers each breathalyzer test, and automatically uploads the test results.

The manufacturer claims that the Kiosk can test up to 40 individuals per hour without any direct supervision by jurisdiction staff, and its touchscreen can deliver customized questionnaires to selected individuals.

A Kiosk can be located in a jail, sheriff’s department, courthouse or probation office, and it can perform alcohol screening 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The offender-management software program provides detailed real-time activity logs, simplifies new-client onboarding, and enables regular and random test scheduling. An entire database of offenders can be uploaded in seconds to initiate the program for any jurisdiction. Deputies and other supervisors can then access the offender-management program from any computer, smartphone or tablet, and use it to generate test reports on any segment of their offender population.

The AB Kiosk system is designed to work with either offender-paid or jurisdiction-paid models, and all accounting is handled within the offender-management system. Because of its versatility, the system can also conduct court-mandated programs such as day reporting, probation check in, Huber work release, diversion programs, and pre- and post-trial services.

More at: www.abkiosk.com/video.