Massachusetts Law Enforcement Network

Massachusetts Police News, Information and Discussions on MassCops

Posted by: resqjyw0


Photo by Ken McGagh/Daily News staff
Joe Jackson, right, a Chief Probation Officer in the state's electronic monitoring division, has Tom Westerberg,
a probation officer at Marlborough District Court, speak into the Sobrietor before taking a breath sample. The
device tests for sobriety at home without direct supervision and uses voice recognition.


By Peter Reuell/Daily News staff
GHS
Sun Feb 10, 2008, 12:29 AM EST

Until recently, probate and family court Judge Stephen Steinberg had little more to go on than his gut when it came to whether a parent involved in a divorce or custody case was struggling with alcohol abuse.

And sometimes, he admits, his gut was wrong.

Thanks to technology borrowed from the criminal courts, Steinberg now has a nearly foolproof way to determine, at nearly any hour of the day, whether a husband or wife who has been accused of drinking has, in fact, been drinking.

The testing device, marketed under the name Sobrietor, connects to a person's phone line, and allows court officials to conduct random tests for alcohol use.

"It's a terrific tool," Steinberg said. "It's really a safeguard for children who are with a parent who has a history of drinking, because then we can make sure that during visitation times, they get the call. We can really keep some control on that."

Not every accusation, however, results in a person having to submit to random tests, Steinberg said.

The decision to install the device is based on a handful of factors, including the person's criminal history and what's happening in each case.

"If a guy's got four DUIs, I'm more likely to take immediate action," Steinberg said. "If a guy's 40 years old, never had anything, has no juvenile record and works steady at his job, I'm probably going to proceed cautiously."

About the size of a football, the device is connected to a phone line, and rings loudly before each test is administered.

To ensure the proper person is tested, the device is calibrated to the voice of the person being monitored. After repeating a series of words, like "America, Ohio and blue," the Sobrietor creates a unique record of his or her voice.

During each test, the person's voice is compared to the "voiceprint" before the test is conducted. If the two voices match, the person blows into the machine, similar to any other breath test.

While the $1,500 device can be installed on its own, Rick O'Neil, a regional supervisor for probate and family courts, said the Sobrietor is most often used in combination with electronic monitoring devices.

"With the bracelet, we know when they're in the home," he said. "So we can test them. If it's just a stand-alone, the judge may have to order times when the person has to be home."

For those who fail the tests, the penalties can be severe.

After she failed a test last March, a Westborough District Court judge revoked bail for Alison Voorhis, who was accused of driving drunk when her car slammed head-on into a car driven by Evagelos Pashos, killing him.

Voorhis later pleaded guilty to charges of motor vehicle homicide and negligent drunken driving, and was sentenced to eight to 12 years in prison.

But while the Sobrietor has made headlines in criminal cases, use of the devices is relatively new in family court.

That may soon change, Steinberg said.

"When we talk about it at (judge's) conferences, there's a lot of interest," he said. "A number of judges up until about a year ago, didn't know about it.

"It's certainly a very important tool for us to have in being able to make decisions that are correct."

"For me, it's the advantage of another tool in a probate judge's toolbox," O'Neil said. "When these allegations are made...it's a lot of he-said, she-said. This is a way for a judge to address the issue, but at the same time address the concerns a custodial parent may raise.

"It's not the end-all or be-all, but it's one other piece of equipment we can use to try to monitor these allegations."

And if those allegations prove true, O'Neil said, positive tests can provide the impetus needed to get someone struggling with addiction into treatment.

"I think it's a wonderful tool to dissuade them from using, at a minimum, when the kids are in their presence," he said. "I would also suggest when people do test positive, then one of the things we want to consider is not only how we structure visits...but the fact that they have a problem usually indicates they need some kind of treatment to address that problem. People generally don't recognize they have a problem until you hit them over the head with it."

"This is an extremely useful tool for us," agreed Stephen Alpers, chief probation officer at Milford District Court. "We can't follow these people around 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but when we use this machine, we have our eyes on them 24/7.

"It's a good recovery tool, because now they can't drink," he added. "They're told, if they can't manage this, chances are they're going to go to jail."

Video (Demonstration): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUrq-34Yc2k

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x53792735


How does the Sobrietor work?

By Peter Reuell/Daily News staff
GHS
Sun Feb 10, 2008, 12:02 AM EST

While typically used in drunken-driving criminal cases, the use of random alcohol-monitoring devices in family and probate courts has risen as judges use the devices to settle disputes over custody and visitation rights.

But how exactly do the tests work?

According to probation officials, it's a process of several steps:

1. CALIBRATION
The first step in the monitoring process is to calibrate the equipment.
After installing the device in a person's home, he or she is told to repeat a series of words, like America, Ohio and blue, which are used to create a unique "voice print" of each person.

2. VOICE TESTING
Once calibration is complete, the random testing can begin.

Before each test, the person being monitored is notified by an alarm that sounds from the equipment. Once the alarm sounds, he or she has two minutes to pick the device up or it will register a failure.

Once the Sobrietor is picked up, the person has several seconds to clear his throat before being asked to repeat the same series of words into the device.

3. RECOGNITION
After speaking each word, the Sobrietor checks to ensure the person's voice matches the prerecorded series of words. If the two voices do not match, the equipment registers a failure.

If the two voices match, the machine instructs the person to blow, similar to a normal breath test.

The person being monitored cannot pass the voice recognition test, officials said, then hand the device to a sober friend because the cup they speak into is fitted with temperature sensors. Take the device away from the monitored person's mouth, and the sensors activate, registering a failed test.

4. BREATH TEST
Once the breath test is administered, the device measures the person's blood-alcohol level, and the results are transmitted via phone lines to one of several monitoring centers in the state.

Any failed test is reported to the chief probation officer of the court, who may issue arrest warrants for the person, or may summons the person to appear in court.

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x53792737

---

Posted by: WaterPistola

that was probably the most interesting thing I learned about during my time with the probation dept, as an intern.

---

Posted by: Sniper

Cool............

---

vBulletin Copyright ©2000 - 2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Limited.
vB Easy Archive Final ©2000 - 2008 - Created by Stefan "Xenon" Kaeser