New DUI Detection Device

August 2010

CHP Using Cutting-Edge Technology to Detect DUIs

Move over, breathalyzer, the HawkEye is here.

AcuNetX, a Torrance, CA-based company that manufactures medical devices, has produced the HawkEye – a product designed to help law enforcement to check for intoxicated motorists. The HawkEye uses infrared light to test the movement of the eye during a field sobriety test. The results are then transferred to a computer.

The technology adds documentation to the horizontal gaze nystagmus test, which requires a motorist suspected of drunk driving to follow an officer’s finger. The officer is looking for jerky motion in the eye which could be a sign of impairment.

The compact, lightweight unit can be used by law enforcement to establish probable cause, thereby leading to the arrest of a motorist. The information could reduce the possibility of a legal challenge.

AcuNetx’s HawkEye is designed to eliminate the subjective elements of the standard field sobriety test.  Unlike a breathalyzer, the HawkEye never needs to be calibrated. It can be used to detect a wide variety of controlled substances including: cocaine, morphine, heroin, barbiturates, tranquilizers, hallucinogens and inhalants.

According to AcuNetX’s web site, a growing number of law enforcement agencies across the U.S. are adopting the HawkEye to crack down on motorists driving under the influence. However, the California Highway Patrol has been using the HawkEye as a training tool. A few local police departments have begun trying the device at sobriety checkpoints. The HawkEye faces the challenge of being accepted as a source of evidence in a DUI trial. The courts typically need time to consider the accuracy and dependability of any new technology.

The knock on the device, according to DUI defense attorneys, is that the HawkEye only records eye movement, and it does not reflect whether the officer is conducting the test correctly. There are also medical conditions that may cause natural jerkiness in eye movement, meaning the new technology may still need to be used in conjunction with another test for driving while intoxicated, such as a breathalyzer.

 AcuNetx also manufactures medical devices that assist in the diagnosis of dizziness and vertigo, and rehabilitate those in danger of falling as a result of balance disorders. The company's OrthoNetx unit is a medical subsidiary which provides surgery devices that create new bone in order to correct deformities and deficiencies of the skeleton.