AN ACT CONCERNING THE INVESTIGATION OF MISSING PERSONS REPORTS.

This bill establishes practices and procedures to govern the way state and local police handle reports of missing persons. It repeals the narrower law on the Missing Children Information Clearinghouse, which primarily deals with cases involving missing children under age 18.

1. requires police departments promptly to accept reports of a missing person, unless they know for sure that the person is not missing;

2. sets procedures that departments must follow when receiving and investigating a missing person report, and sets deadlines for taking certain actions;

3. requires that when a high-risk person (e. g. , person mentally impaired, needing medical attention, or under age 21) is reported missing, police contact the Department of Public Safety (DPS) Missing Persons Unit, which must contact local police departments and enter the missing person report in the National Crime Information Center database immediately;

4. requires the State Police, if appropriate and likely to facilitate a resolution to a missing person case, to activate the emergency alert system that broadcasts or disseminates child abduction information (AMBER alert, see BACKGROUND);

5. requires the Chief Medical Examiner's (CME) Office to take certain steps with regard to unidentified human remains and prohibits cremating such remains; and

6. expands the responsibilities of the Police Officers Standards and Training Council (POST) and the training responsibilities of local police departments with regard to missing persons.

This bill eliminates the Missing Children Information Clearinghouse, which is the state's central repository of information on missing children and others (see BACKGROUND). It, instead, establishes procedures governing the way police handle reports of missing adults and children.

The bill requires police departments to promptly accept all reports of missing persons, unless they have direct knowledge that the person is not missing and know the exact whereabouts and welfare of the person at the time the report is being made. Departments cannot refuse to accept a report because:

1. the missing person is an adult,

2. foul play is not indicated,

3. the person has been missing for too short or too long a time,

4. nothing indicates that the missing person was in the department's jurisdiction at the time of the disappearance,

5. the circumstances suggest that the disappearance may be voluntary,

6. the person making the report (reporter) does not know all of the facts or cannot provide all of the information the agency requests, or

7. the reporter is not a relative or otherwise related to the missing person.

The bill eliminates the Missing Children Information Clearinghouse, which is the state's central repository of information on missing children and others (see BACKGROUND).

POLICE OBLIGATION TO PROVIDE CERTAIN INFORMATION TO FILER OF MISSING PERSON REPORT

A department receiving a missing person report must inform the reporter of the two clearinghouses for information on missing persons and give the reporter contact information for the (1) National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, if the missing person is age 17 or younger and (2) National Center for Missing Adults, if the missing person is age 18 or older.

The department must also give the reporter, a relative (presumably of the missing person), or anyone who can help find the person, general information on its handling of, or intended efforts in, the case. The department must do this to the extent that it determines that disclosure will not adversely affect its ability to find or protect the person or to apprehend or prosecute anyone criminally involved in the disappearance. The department must advise the parties that if the person is not located, they should give the department additional information and material that will help locate him or her. This includes any credit or debit cards to which the person has access, other banking or financial information, and any records of cellular telephone use.

If a department requests DNA samples, it must inform the reporter, relative, or third-party that providing the samples is voluntary and the samples will be used solely to help locate or identify the missing person. It must immediately forward all DNA samples it obtains to the DPS' Division of Scientific Services for analysis. The division must establish procedures for determining how to prioritize analysis of the samples in missing person cases.

If a missing person is not located within 30 days after a report is filed, the department must attempt to obtain the following information and material if it has not obtained them:

1. DNA samples from relatives and, if possible, from the missing person, along with any needed documentation, including any consent forms, required to use state or federal DNA databases;

2. the missing person's dental records and an authorization to release such records;

3. the missing person's fingerprints; and

4. any additional photographs of the missing person that may aid the investigation or an identification.

The bill specifies that a department (1) does not have to obtain written authorization to release publicly any photograph that may aid the investigation or identification of the missing person and (2) may obtain any of the above information or material before the 30th day after the report filing.

The bill requires the department to enter information relevant to the Federal Bureau of Investigations' (FBI) Violent Criminal Apprehension Program as soon as possible.

When a police department initially receives a missing person report, it must try to determine if the person reported missing is a high-risk missing person. An initial finding that a person is not a high-risk may be changed, based on further investigation or information.

The bill defines a “high risk missing person” as one whose whereabouts are not currently known and the circumstances indicate that the person may be at risk of injury or death.

The circumstances that indicate that a person is a high-risk missing person include the following:

1. the person is missing (a) as a result of an abduction by a stranger, (b) under suspicious, unknown, or dangerous circumstances, or (c) for more than 30 days;

2. another law enforcement agency has already been designated the person as a high-risk missing person;

3. the person (a) needs medical attention or prescription medication, (b) is not in the habit of running away or disappearing, (c) may have been abducted by a noncustodial parent, (d) is mentally impaired, (e) is under age 21, or (f) has been the subject of past threats or acts of violence; or

4. any other factor that may, in the judgment of the police chief of the department receiving the missing person report, indicate that the person may be at risk.

If a police department determines that a person reported missing is in a high-risk group, it must notify the State Police Missing Persons Unit. It must provide the unit immediately with the information most likely to help find and safely return the person and, as soon as practicable, with all other information it obtains on the case.

The unit must promptly provide the CME, all local police departments, and, if deemed appropriate, police departments in adjacent states or jurisdictions with the information that may aid in the prompt location and safe return of the high-risk missing person, including a request to use thermal imaging equipment possessed by such departments. Local departments so notified must immediately inform their officers and members, including at roll call.

The Missing Persons Unit must enter, as appropriate, all information it collects on a missing person case in applicable federal databases, under applicable guidelines relating to the databases, as follows:

1. a missing person report, and relevant information, in a high-risk missing person case must be entered in the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database immediately, but not later than two hours after the determination that the person is a high-risk missing person;

2. a missing person report, and relevant information, in a case not involving a high-risk missing person must be entered in the NCIC database not later than 24 hours after the initial filing report is filed;

3. all DNA profiles must be uploaded into the missing persons database of the Division of Scientific Services and all appropriate and suitable federal databases; and

4. information relevant to the FBI Violent Criminal Apprehension Program must be entered as soon as practicable.

The unit must use due care to ensure that the information, particularly medical and dental records, entered in the databases is accurate and, to the greatest extent possible, complete.

After performing any death scene investigation, as deemed appropriate under the circumstances, the official with custody of the human remains must ensure that they are delivered to the CME's Office. The CME must make reasonable attempts to promptly identify remains. These actions may include obtaining:

1. photographs of the remains and any items found with them;

2. dental or skeletal x-rays;

3. fingerprints from the remains, if possible;

4. samples of tissue, if possible, or whole bones or hair suitable for DNA typing; and

5. any other information that may help with the identification.

The bill prohibits anyone from disposing of, or engaging in actions that will materially affect the, unidentified human remains before the CME obtains (1) samples suitable for DNA identification and (2) photographs of the remains, and all other appropriate steps for identification have been exhausted.

The bill prohibits (apparently forever) the cremation of unidentified human remains. (It provides no penalties for violation. )

It requires the CME to make reasonable efforts to obtain prompt DNA analysis of biological samples if the human remains have not been identified by other means within 30 days. It requires the CME to seek support from appropriate state and federal agencies to help identify such remains. Assistance may include available mitochondrial or nuclear DNA testing, federal grants for DNA testing, or federal grants to improve the crime laboratory or CME's office.

The CME must promptly enter in state and federal databases information that may help to identify a missing person. Information must be entered into federal databases as follows:

1. NCIC information, within 24 hours;

2. DNA profiles and information must be entered into the National DNA Index System within five business days after the completion of the DNA analysis and procedures necessary for the entry of the DNA profile; and

3. information sought by the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program database must be entered as soon as practicable.

The bill does not preclude the CME or police departments from taking other actions to facilitate identification of unidentified human remains. These include making efforts to publicize information, descriptions, or photographs that may help with identification, and allowing relatives to identify a missing person. In taking these actions, the CME and departments must give all due consideration to protecting the dignity and well-being of the missing person and his or her relatives.

Agencies handling remains identified as those of a missing person must notify the police department handling the missing person's case. Documented efforts must be made to locate relatives of the deceased to inform them of the death and location of the remains.

The bill requires the State Police must, when deemed appropriate and likely to facilitate a resolution to a particular missing person case, activate the emergency alert system that broadcasts or disseminates information on child abductions (see BACKGROUND).

The bill requires POST to inform local police departments about best practices and protocols for handling death scene investigations. It must identify any publications or training opportunities that may be available to local police on the handling of such investigations.

By law, POST must develop and implement a policy governing the way police departments take and respond to reports of missing persons. The bill requires POST to include in the policy preferred methods of responding to a missing person report that are sensitive to the reporter's emotions. It requires the council to create a disc or other software that police may access in their police vehicles that contains step-by-step instructions to follow upon receipt of a report of a missing person.

The bill requires each police basic or review training program conducted or administered by the State Police, POST, or a municipal police department to include training in (1) the POST missing person policy and (2) the use of the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System created by the Office of Justice Program's National Institute of Justice.

The Missing Children Information Clearinghouse is the state's central repository of information on missing children and others. The information it collects is to be used to help locate missing children and, within available resources, other missing persons.

Among its other statutorily defined responsibilities, the clearinghouse investigates reports of missing children (in response to local requests) and cooperates with other police departments' investigations, tries to assure that its information is accurate and complete, and has established an intrastate system for communicating information on missing children. Police departments must submit reports of all missing children under age 18 to the clearinghouse. Parents may also notify the clearinghouse once they report to local police.

Connecticut's Amber Plan is a cooperative effort among the State Police, the Connecticut Association of Police Chiefs, local police, and the Connecticut Broadcasters Association. It is based on a national model. It calls for broadcasters immediately to interrupt their programming to broadcast information over the Emergency Alert System about a non-family child abduction. The plan does not cover runaway children or children taken during custody disputes.

For the plan to be activated, the child must usually be under age 16 (but older children may be considered on a case-by-case basis), law enforcement officials must determine the child is in danger of serious bodily harm or death, and they must have enough descriptive information to believe that a broadcast will help. If the situation meets these criteria, a local police official contacts the State Police message center, where staff records an audio alert with the information. This emergency message is sent to two primary radio and television stations, each of which airs an emergency tone and then either interrupts programming or scrolls the message at the bottom of the screen. Other media pick up the message from these stations.

By law, police departments receiving a report of a missing child under age 15 must immediately accept the report and notify all on-duty police officers and other appropriate law enforcement agencies (CGS § 7-282c).

Federal law requires state law enforcement agencies to enact certain practice and procedures regarding missing children. It prohibits states from establishing policies that require a waiting period before accepting a missing child or unidentified person report. It also requires that information be entered immediately upon receipt of the report in the state law enforcement system and NCIC computer networks and made available to the Missing Children Information Clearinghouse in the state (42 USC § 5780).