Alcohol Monitoring Systems, Inc. (AMS) can trace our existence back to a profound and tragic personal experience that happened many years ago. Jeff Hawthorne, an AMS co-founder and our current Chief Technology Officer, had a college friend who was killed by a five-time DUI offender.
This tragedy – which exemplified the significant problem of DUI and alcohol abuse in the United States – was the driving force behind Jeff and our other founders’ collective vision to create a product that would not only monitor alcohol offenders 24/7, but would also hold them continuously accountable for their actions.
The founders of AMS first began working with the science of transdermal alcohol testing in 1989. This group of scientists, engineers, programmers, and alcohol testing experts worked closely with researchers in the fields of biology, forensic toxicology, criminal justice, and alcohol treatment and rehabilitation. After years of development, the first operational SCRAM prototype was completed in 1993, and the first patent on the product was issued.
The founders formally formed AMS in 1997 with the clear mission of designing, developing, and delivering the world’s most effective continuous alcohol monitoring solution. In May, 2003, AMS launched our first version of SCRAM to the market – and we haven’t looked back since.
SCRAM – and now SCRAM II – have effectively defined the continuous alcohol monitoring (CAM) market and created a highly successful niche that has never before been seen in the criminal justice arena. Today, SCRAM programs are operational in 45 states and more than 1,500 courts and agencies, with SCRAM monitoring more than 50,000 alcohol offenders.
