DUI Defender

A company in New Mexico has patented and is now field testing a device that measures blood alcohol concentrations non-invasively. The device appears to operate in a fashion like a pulse oximeter, a small clamp like device that hospitals use to measure the amount of oxygen in patients experiencing respiratory distress. The compay webite describes the technology as employing near-infrared (NIR) absorption spectroscopy to measure the concentration of alcohol by introducing NIR light into the skin and collecting the light that returns to the tissue surface (often referred to as diffuse reflectance).

We haven’t had the opportunity to see one of these devices in action to determine how accurate it is in its measurements or ability to determine whether what it is rteading is ethyl alcohol or some other compound with a similar molecular structure. Alcohol specificity is a common problem for non-invasive blood alcohol measuring devices. Trutouch Technologies must also get Federal approval and join the list of “conforming devices.”

While we have not seen this technology used by any law enforcement agencies that we work with it is important to note that it may be coming to a police force near you.

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