The people who work at Auburn Correctional Facility face safety risks each day, so taking steps to protect them is important.
To do that, the New York state Department of Correctional Services last year intensified the effort to prevent contraband - including drugs - from entering facilities via inmate visitors. An integral component of that initiative has been the use of ion scanners, which are handheld devices designed to detect up to 40 different microscopic particles that come from contraband such as drugs or explosives.
It seems like a great use of technology, but there is one problem.
The devices don't always work.
More than two dozen prison visitors across the state, including a lawyer visiting a client, have reported false positive readings from the scanners to the New York Civil Liberties Union. At least two Auburn visitors claim they were wrongly found to have drug residue and one has filed a lawsuit.
The NYCLU and others worry the machines might be setting off false positives when a person comes in contact with money that has drug residue.
There are also concerns about the scanners themselves becoming contaminated when they are used on a person who actually has drugs.
Unfortunately, under the procedures New York has in place, there is no alternative test after the scanner detects something.
And when a test is positive, the visitor is denied entry for two days - no exceptions.
New York needs to take the approach of Florida, where the ion scanner test is followed by a pat-down and canine search.
The idea behind the ion scanner program is sound, but the state must do better than what is in place right now.
It can work to develop more accurate technology, and then set up a system that works more fairly.
It seems like a great use of technology, but there is one problem.
The devices don't always work.
More than two dozen prison visitors across the state, including a lawyer visiting a client, have reported false positive readings from the scanners to the New York Civil Liberties Union. At least two Auburn visitors claim they were wrongly found to have drug residue and one has filed a lawsuit.
The NYCLU and others worry the machines might be setting off false positives when a person comes in contact with money that has drug residue.
There are also concerns about the scanners themselves becoming contaminated when they are used on a person who actually has drugs.
Unfortunately, under the procedures New York has in place, there is no alternative test after the scanner detects something.
And when a test is positive, the visitor is denied entry for two days - no exceptions.
New York needs to take the approach of Florida, where the ion scanner test is followed by a pat-down and canine search.
The idea behind the ion scanner program is sound, but the state must do better than what is in place right now.
It can work to develop more accurate technology, and then set up a system that works more fairly.