A LOOK IN THE EYE UNCOVERS THE TRUTH

Machine Scans Eye To Find Drug Or Alcohol Use

FARMINGTON - For as long as drug testing has been around, people have
been on an endless search for ways to beat the system. But a person's
eyes don't lie. At least that's what the Davis County Sheriff's
Office is counting on.

Davis County is the first agency in the state to use the PassPoint
substance abuser screener. By scanning a person's eyes the machine
determines whether that person has recently been using drugs or
alcohol.

The system, which is a little smaller than an ATM, was installed at
Davis County Drug Court Sept. 1. After a 90-day trial run, deputies
were pleased enough with the results that they put it into use full
time.

People who are convicted of a drug offense are sometimes given the
option of going to drug court. In drug court, participants are
required to attend classes, complete homework assignments and submit
to frequent and random drug testing.

About 110 people are currently in the Davis County Drug Court. In the
past, it would cost the sheriff's office up to $6,000 each month to
drug test all of those people using a urine analysis. Each urine test
takes six to eight minutes. The drug court conducts about 1,600 tests
each month.

The PassPoint device takes 45 seconds to complete each test and about
$3,000 a month to operate, Davis County sheriff's detective John
Carter said. It drastically cuts down both manpower and cost. If the
PassPoint had not been purchased, the sheriff's office would have
needed to hire two more deputies to do nothing but urine tests, he
said.

A person using the PassPoint system puts one eye up to the machine's
screen. The system sends 500 pulsations of light per second into the
eye, measuring it vertically and horizontally. After PassPoint
collects data from the eye it puts that information through a series
of 14 tests. Those tests determine whether a person may have recently
been using drugs or alcohol.

The person looking into the machine sees a series of dim flashing
green lights. The subject's eye follows a light that goes from left
to right and then flashes four green dots at the same time.

It's similar to taking a fingerprint but with an eye instead, Carter
said. It's nearly impossible to beat the system, he said. With urine
testing some offenders have tried nearly any way they can think of to
fool deputies. Some have even resorted to buying other people's
urine, he said.

But with PassPoint, each offender's eye data is stored in the
computer. When a person first enters drug court, he or she is
required to establish a "baseline" in the database. That is, the
machine takes several readings to determine the standard level of eye
reflexes for that person.

On each subsequent visit, the offender punches his or her Social
Security number into the computer, and the machine compares the
current reflexes of the eyes to the baseline. If the offender tries
to send his friend to take the test for him the computer will
immediately detect it, Carter said.

"Your eye is your eye. You can't get around it," he said.

After conducting the 14 tests, PassPoint will determine if that
person is "low risk" or "high risk." If the person is high risk they
will be asked to submit to a urine test.

Of the 110 people in drug court, about 10 percent are forced to take
a urine test after submitting to the eye test, Carter said. Of those
people who take the urine test, about 10 percent usually test
positive for drugs, he said.

Only 2 percent of people in drug court are unable to take the eye
test, Carter said. Some people blink too much or are just so nervous
that an accurate measurement of their eye's reflexes can't be taken.

The PassPoint system is currently being used in six states. It is
able to detect alcohol, marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine and other
drugs in a person's system.