Drug Testing Company Errors Impacting Oakland County Cases
(Crystal A. Proxmire, Sept. 19, 2015)
Hundreds of people could be impacted by reporting errors by the company hired to do drug testing of people in the Oakland County Court system according to a report by the Detroit Free Press.
Details are still emerging, but journalist John Wisely reported on the snafu Friday after learning that the drug testing company Jail Alternatives for Michigan Services did not report any positive drug tests for several weeks.  They did, however, have an increase in the people marked as “no show” for testing, which is a problem for those who are court-mandated to test.  A no show can result in arrest or other consequences.
“The company experienced the issue in late August, but apparently didn’t notice it until Dana O’Neal of Oakland County pre-trial services called to ask why no positive test results had been submitted in recent weeks, said Barbara Hankey, manager of Oakland County Community Corrections,” Wisely reported.
“She saw something was up, she contacted JAMS and tried to make them aware of the problem,” Hankey told Wisely. “It was a couple of weeks after we notified them before the conversations started.”
While there were no negative test results, there were reports of people not showing up to test who actually did.
It is unclear at this time if anyone was incarcerated or had other consequences because the false reports. Showing up and passing drug tests is often part of probation or defendant’s conditions of bond while awaiting trial. It is also unclear if there were mistakes made in Macomb and Wayne Counties, where JAMS also does testing.
Read more at
http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2015/09/18/drug-testing-mistake/72406600/
The oc115 will be following up on this story as well, and will provide updates as they are available. Sign up for daily headlines at https://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=Oakland_County_115_News.