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Wisconsin leaders install breathalyzer kiosk for drug, alcohol testing

April 11, 2019

The sheriff's office of Iowa County, Wisconsin, has installed an automated breathalyzer kiosk from Precision Kiosk Technologies at the Iowa County Jail in Dodgeville, according to a press release.

Deputies have begun using this autonomous system to conduct alcohol screening of offenders participating in the Huber Work Release program as well as people awaiting trial or sentencing for drug and alcohol offenses. Later this year, they will also use the kiosks to screen those picked up for Operating While Intoxicated when they are brought to the jail. Five Wisconsin counties are now using the kiosk for alcohol screening. 

Since the kiosk was introduced in January 2018, sheriff's offices in Wisconsin have used the kiosk to autonomously conduct more than 42,500 alcohol-monitoring tests and have achieved a "passed test" compliance rate of 99.6%. Iowa County joins the Wisconsin counties of Racine, Door, Portage and St. Croix in using the kiosk.

The kiosk is a secure, integrated system that autonomously handles alcohol screening from start to finish. It consists of two components, including an interactive alcohol-screening kiosk and an offender management software program. The kiosk uses biometric fingerprint authentication to verify the identity of the individual, captures video as it administers the breathalyzer test, and automatically uploads the test results to the offender's file. Operating without any direct supervision, the kiosk can test up to 40 individuals per hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The system's cloud-based offender-management software simplifies new client onboarding, coordinates regular and random test scheduling, and handles all test notifications and accounting. Program administrators can initiate a screening program by uploading an entire database in seconds, and deputies can access their offender management program from any computer, smartphone or tablet.