Iowa County Begins Using an Automated Breathalyzer Kiosk for Alcohol Screening at the County Jail

Minneapolis, Minn. — (April 2, 2019) Minneapolis-based Precision Kiosk Technologies announced today that the Sheriff’s Office of Iowa County, Wisconsin, has installed an Automated Breathalyzer Kiosk (AB Kiosk) at the Iowa County Jail in Dodgeville. 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 AB Kiosks to screen those who pick up Operating While Intoxicated (OWI) offenders at the jail.

The Iowa County Sheriff’s Office and the County’s Assistant District Attorney, Matthew Allen, are spearheading the integration of this new technology into law enforcement efforts to improve community safety in Iowa County. Since the AB Kiosk was introduced in January 2018, sheriff’s offices in Wisconsin have used the AB Kiosk system 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 AB Kiosk system.

“The AB Kiosk system promotes public safety in Iowa County by allowing us to closely monitor participants in our Huber Work Release and treatment court programs, as well as those offenders who are awaiting trial or sentencing,” said assistant district attorney, Matthew Allen. “Automating our alcohol screening program also frees up our law enforcement staff for higher-value work and assists us in tracking the effectiveness of our offender programs.”

The Automated Breathalyzer Kiosk™ is a secure, integrated system that autonomously handles alcohol screening from start to finish. It consists of two components: an interactive alcohol-screening kiosk and a robust 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.

“We are very pleased to have Iowa County adopt the AB Kiosk system to monitor their offender populations,” said Patrick McKinney, general manager of Precision Kiosk Technologies. “This system will greatly improve the efficiency of their alcohol-screening programs and increase the safety of their communities.”

Jurisdiction Contact:
Matthew C. Allen
Assistant District Attorney, Iowa County
(608) 935-0393
Email: Matthew.Allen@da.wi.gov