Pubdate: Sat, 02 Mar 2002 Source: Deseret News (UT) Copyright: 2002 Deseret News Publishing Corp. Contact: http://www.desnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/124 Author: Pat Reavy Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing) A LOOK IN THE EYE UNCOVERS THE TRUTH Machine Scans Eye To Find Drug Or Alcohol Use FARMINGTON - For as long as drug testing has been around, people have been on an endless search for ways to beat the system. But a person's eyes don't lie. At least that's what the Davis County Sheriff's Office is counting on. Davis County is the first agency in the state to use the PassPoint substance abuser screener. By scanning a person's eyes the machine determines whether that person has recently been using drugs or alcohol. The system, which is a little smaller than an ATM, was installed at Davis County Drug Court Sept. 1. After a 90-day trial run, deputies were pleased enough with the results that they put it into use full time. People who are convicted of a drug offense are sometimes given the option of going to drug court. In drug court, participants are required to attend classes, complete homework assignments and submit to frequent and random drug testing. About 110 people are currently in the Davis County Drug Court. In the past, it would cost the sheriff's office up to $6,000 each month to drug test all of those people using a urine analysis. Each urine test takes six to eight minutes. The drug court conducts about 1,600 tests each month. The PassPoint device takes 45 seconds to complete each test and about $3,000 a month to operate, Davis County sheriff's detective John Carter said. It drastically cuts down both manpower and cost. If the PassPoint had not been purchased, the sheriff's office would have needed to hire two more deputies to do nothing but urine tests, he said. A person using the PassPoint system puts one eye up to the machine's screen. The system sends 500 pulsations of light per second into the eye, measuring it vertically and horizontally. After PassPoint collects data from the eye it puts that information through a series of 14 tests. Those tests determine whether a person may have recently been using drugs or alcohol. The person looking into the machine sees a series of dim flashing green lights. The subject's eye follows a light that goes from left to right and then flashes four green dots at the same time. It's similar to taking a fingerprint but with an eye instead, Carter said. It's nearly impossible to beat the system, he said. With urine testing some offenders have tried nearly any way they can think of to fool deputies. Some have even resorted to buying other people's urine, he said. But with PassPoint, each offender's eye data is stored in the computer. When a person first enters drug court, he or she is required to establish a "baseline" in the database. That is, the machine takes several readings to determine the standard level of eye reflexes for that person. On each subsequent visit, the offender punches his or her Social Security number into the computer, and the machine compares the current reflexes of the eyes to the baseline. If the offender tries to send his friend to take the test for him the computer will immediately detect it, Carter said. "Your eye is your eye. You can't get around it," he said. After conducting the 14 tests, PassPoint will determine if that person is "low risk" or "high risk." If the person is high risk they will be asked to submit to a urine test. Of the 110 people in drug court, about 10 percent are forced to take a urine test after submitting to the eye test, Carter said. Of those people who take the urine test, about 10 percent usually test positive for drugs, he said. Only 2 percent of people in drug court are unable to take the eye test, Carter said. Some people blink too much or are just so nervous that an accurate measurement of their eye's reflexes can't be taken. The PassPoint system is currently being used in six states. It is able to detect alcohol, marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine and other drugs in a person's system. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh