Bill 321

                    Current Status

Bill Number:               321
Ratification Number:       143
Act Number:                98
Introducing Body:          Senate
Subject:                        Act to create a missing person
                           information center

(A98, R143, S321)

AN ACT TO CREATE A MISSING PERSON INFORMATION CENTER AS A PART OF THE STATE LAW ENFORCEMENT DIVISION TO SERVE AS A CENTRAL REPOSITORY FOR INFORMATION REGARDING MISSING PERSONS AND MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN, TO PROVIDE FOR THE FUNCTIONS AND DUTIES OF THE CENTER, TO REQUIRE CERTAIN ACTIONS BY LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES UPON RECEIPT OF A MISSING PERSON REPORT, TO REQUIRE CERTAIN ACTIONS BY A PARENT, SPOUSE, LEGAL GUARDIAN OR CUSTODIAL AGENCY AFTER SUBMITTING A MISSING PERSON REPORT, TO MAKE IT UNLAWFUL FOR ANY PERSON WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION TO RELEASE ANY DATA OR INFORMATION MAINTAINED BY THE CENTER AND TO PROVIDE PENALTIES FOR VIOLATION, AND TO CREATE A MISSING PERSON TASK FORCE TO MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS BY JULY 1, 1986, CONCERNING LONG-RANGE PLANS FOR GATHERING AND PROCESSING INFORMATION ON MISSING PERSONS AND MISSING CHILDREN.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

Missing Person Information Center created

SECTION 1. There is created a Missing Person Information Center, hereinafter referred to as MPIC, to be located in Columbia as a part of the State Law Enforcement Division. The purpose of the MPIC is to serve as a central repository for information regarding missing persons and missing and exploited children, with special emphasis on missing children. The MPIC shall utilize the Federal Bureau of Investigation/National Crime Information Center's missing person computerized file through the use of the State Law Enforcement Division's law enforcement communications network. This center is hereinafter referred to as FBI/NCIC.

Definitions

SECTION 2. For the purposes of this act:

(a) "Missing child" means any individual who is under the age of eighteen years whose temporary or permanent residence is in South Carolina, or is believed to be in South Carolina, whose location has not been determined, and who has been reported as missing to a law enforcement agency.

(b) "Missing person" means any individual who is eighteen years of age or older, whose temporary or permanent residence is in South Carolina, or is believed to be in South Carolina, whose location has not been determined, and who has been reported as missing to a law enforcement agency.

(c) "Missing person report" is a report prepared on a prescribed form for transmitting information about a missing person or a missing child to a law enforcement agency.

(d) "Exploited children" are children under the age of eighteen who are placed in positions where they were taken advantage of sexually because of their inability to cognitively assess or resist the contact or who were placed into these positions because of their dependency upon the offender.

Center under direction of the Chief of Law Enforcement Division

SECTION 3. The MPIC is under the direction of the Chief of the State Law Enforcement Division and may be organized and structured in a manner as the Chief deems appropriate to ensure that the objectives of the MPIC are achieved. The Chief may employ those MPIC personnel as the General Assembly may authorize and provide funding for.

Center to promulgate regulations

SECTION 4. The MPIC shall promulgate regulations prescribing:

(a) procedures for accepting and disseminating information maintained at the MPIC.

(b) the confidentiality of the data and information, including the missing person report, maintained by the MPIC.

(c) the proper disposition of all obsolete data, including the missing person report; provided, data for an individual who has reached the age of eighteen and remains missing must be preserved.

(d) procedures allowing a communication link with the State Law Enforcement Division and the FBI/NCIC's missing person file to ensure compliance with FBI/NCIC policies.

(e) forms, including but not limited to a missing person report, considered necessary for the efficient and proper operation of the MPIC.

Persons may submit report to Center

SECTION 5. Any parent, spouse, guardian, legal custodian, or public or private agency or entity may submit a missing person report to the MPIC on any missing child or missing person, regardless of the circumstances, after having first submitted a missing person report on the individual to the law enforcement agency having jurisdiction of the area in which the individual became or is believed to have become missing, regardless of the circumstances.

Data about missing person

SECTION 6. A law enforcement agency, upon receipt of a missing person report by a parent, spouse, guardian, legal custodian, or public or private agency or entity, shall immediately make arrangements for the entry of data about the missing person or missing child into the national missing persons file in accordance with criteria set forth by the FBI/NCIC, immediately inform all of its on-duty law enforcement officers of the missing person report, initiate a statewide broadcast to all other law enforcement agencies to be on the lookout for the individual, and transmit a copy of the report to the MPIC.

Responsibilities of Center

SECTION 7. The MPIC shall:

(a) Assist local law enforcement agencies with entering data about missing persons or missing children into the national missing persons file, ensure that proper entry criteria have been met as set forth by the FBI/NCIC, and confirm entry of the data about the missing persons or missing children.

(b) Utilize both the intrastate communication network and the FBI/NCIC system in locating missing persons or missing children.

(c) Collect, process, maintain, and disseminate information on missing and exploited children or missing persons.

(d) Provide for a centralized distribution center for emergency flyers on missing persons or missing children.

(e) Formulate and distribute, both intrastate and interstate, a monthly bulletin of missing persons and missing children from South Carolina to law enforcement agencies.

(f) Develop, maintain, and disseminate a directory of resources available for assistance to local, state, and federal agencies and entities, public and private organizations, and others in locating a missing person or missing child.

(g) Provide news media, including, but not limited to, television and radio stations and newspapers, with pertinent information on missing persons and missing children on a regularly scheduled basis.

(h) Develop and disseminate recommended procedures and forms for the collection of identifying information, including but not limited to bloodtyping, fingerprinting and dental charting, which are compatible with criteria established by the FBI/NCIC.

(i) Maintain all available information on any missing person or missing child including, but not limited to, the missing person report, fingerprints, blood types, dental information, and photographs. The identifying information maintained at the MPIC must be kept confidential, except as may be otherwise provided in this act.

(j) Conduct statewide training sessions and seminars relative to missing and exploited children and missing persons, including, but not limited to, methods to enhance the locating of missing children and missing persons and training regarding the operation of the MPIC.

(k) In the case of locating an individual who had previously been reported as being a missing person or missing child, provide referrals for counseling or other assistance or aid to the individual or the individual's family, if the individual or his family desires counseling or other assistance or aid.

(l) Provide a program of support and technical assistance for community-based efforts, especially in the case of children, to prevent disappearances and to ensure self-protection.

Persons must notify appropriate law enforcement agency when

person located

SECTION 8. Any parent, spouse, guardian, legal custodian, or public or private agency or entity who submits a missing person report to a law enforcement agency or to the MPIC, after having first submitted the missing person report to the appropriate law enforcement agency, shall immediately notify the law enforcement agency and the MPIC of any individual whose location has been determined. The MPIC shall instigate and confirm the deletion of the individual's records from the FBI/NCIC's missing person file, as long as there are no grounds for criminal prosecution, and follow up with the local law enforcement agency having jurisdiction of the records.

Inquiries of and information from Center

SECTION 9. The following may make inquiries of, and receive data or information from, the MPIC:

(a) Any police, law enforcement, or criminal justice agency investigating a report of a missing or unidentified person or child, whether living or deceased.

(b) A court, upon a finding by the court that access to the data, information, or records of the MPIC may be necessary for the determination of an issue before the court.

(c) Any solicitor of a judicial circuit in this State or the solicitor's designee or representative.

(d) Any person engaged in bona fide research when approved by the Chief; provided, no names or addresses may be supplied to this person.

Fee

SECTION 10. The MPIC may not charge any fee for inquiries made to it pursuant to this act.

Toll free telephone line

SECTION 11. The MPIC shall provide a toll-free telephone line for anyone to report the disappearance of any individual or the sighting of any missing child or missing person. MPIC personnel shall instruct the caller, in the case of a report concerning the disappearance of an individual, of the requirements contained in Section 5 of this act of first having to submit a missing person report on the individual to the law enforcement agency having jurisdiction of the area in which the individual became or is believed to have become missing. Any law enforcement agency may retrieve information imparted to the MPIC by means of this phone line. The MPIC must directly communicate any report of a sighting of a missing person or a missing child to the law enforcement agency having jurisdiction in the area of disappearance or sighting.

Penalty

SECTION 12. Any person who knowingly and wilfully releases, or authorizes the release of, any data, information, or records maintained or possessed by the MPIC to any agency, entity, or person other than as specifically permitted by this act or in violation of any regulation promulgated by the MPIC is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be punished by a fine of not less than five hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment of not less than thirty days nor more than ninety days, or both.

Missing Person Task Force Created - composition

SECTION 13. There is created a Missing Person Task Force composed of five members appointed by the Governor. The Governor shall designate a member as chairman. The Task Force shall study information gathered from the MPIC and the FBI/NCIC in order to make long-range plans concerning the gathering, maintaining, and processing of information and data on missing persons and missing children, concerning the effectiveness of efforts to determine the whereabouts of missing persons and missing children through the efforts of the MPIC, and concerning related matters. The Task Force shall submit a written report of its findings and recommendations to the Governor, the Attorney General, and the Joint Legislative Committee on Children on or before July 1, 1986. After submission of this report, the Missing Person Task Force is dissolved. The Task Force may meet as frequently as its chairman or a majority of its members considers necessary. Members of the Task Force are allowed the usual mileage, per diem, and subsistence as provided bylaw for members of state boards, committees, and commissions.

Time effective

SECTION 14. This act shall take effect July 1, 1985, except that Section 13 shall take effect January 1, 1986.