BioTechScreening Blog: On-Site Device History and Why They Dominate the Criminal Justice System

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Sunday, August 26, 2012

On-Site Device History and Why They Dominate the Criminal Justice System

Image courtesy of http://www.jeanlambertmep.org.uk

ONSITE DEVICE HISTORY AND WHY THEY DOMINATE THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
BACKDROP: These devices have been around since the mid-nineties and their accuracy and reliability have increased quantum leaps so that today they are as accurate as laboratory screening. Why have immediate results triumphed over delayed result testing?

COST SAVING,
1. The initial savings is substantial with onsite screening generally costing less than half that of a laboratory screen with similar accuracy. The shipping cost of sending a specimen to the lab will always militate against it being a cost effective alternative.
2. Onsite devices yield a high percentage of admissions. When admissions obviate the need for confirmations, dramatic savings are realized in that confirmatory testing will always be the most expensive part of any testing process.

SUPERIOR PROCESS
1. With a delayed result, when the officer hears back from the lab he/she must either track down and confront the individual at which time an admission is highly unlikely
2. Additionally when a couple of days have lapsed before usage is detected, a potentially hazardous situation arises in that drug supporting criminal behavior may continue.
3. With an immediate result is negative, the officer can reward and support the donors sobriety, the positive role of drug testing.
4. When results are delayed, the deterrent effect of drug testing is diminished or non-existent.

LABOR INTENSIVE
With a lab screen a specimen must be collected, sealed, bagged a Chain-of-custody completed, shipped and then reported out when the results are returned. With a onsite device in the majority of cases the process in done in a very few minutes.

OFFICER SAFETY
When I met with the assistant warden at Sheridan in Oregon he listened to my pitch before saying all the features that I was promoting were well and fine, but he was only interested in the safety of his officers and the sooner he could identify an active drug user and segregate him from the population the better for all concerned.

COMMUNITY PROTECTION
With delayed results an offender can continue their drug supporting criminal activities until they are held accountable. Immediate results, therefore, afford a far higher degree of community protection.

DETERRENCE
In order for deterrence to be effective, consequences must be swift and certain. Long term addicts have told us that they must know that they will have to pay the piper at the time of the test or else they’ll convince themselves that the drug will degrade in the delay while sending it to a laboratory or that it will be lost or mixed-up with another’s specimen. Deterrence is the main goal that most effective programs seek to achieve.

FLEXIBILITY AND KEEPING DONORS GUESSING
In order to be effective, a process must keep offenders “guessing.” When panels are not changed they become predictable and donors will find drugs they can use that are “safe” from detection. Onsite tests enable you to frequently change panels so that a donor does not know on a given day for what they will be tested. It also enables you to customize panels per geographic areas to test only for those drugs being used in a given location.

Labels: justice, laboratory, matrix, testing

by: BioTechScreening

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