S*321 Session 106 (1985-1986)
S*0321(Rat #0143, Act #0098 of 1985) General Bill, By N.W. Smith, Branton,
Giese, C.T. Hinson, Leatherman, J.M. Long, A.S. Macaulay, T.W. Mitchell,
E.J. Patterson and N.A. Theodore
Similar(H 2524)
A Bill 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.
03/06/85 Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-760
03/06/85 Senate Referred to Committee on Judiciary SJ-760
04/17/85 Senate Committee report: Favorable Judiciary SJ-1539
04/18/85 Senate Read second time SJ-1611
04/19/85 Senate Read third time and sent to House SJ-1695
04/23/85 House Introduced and read first time HJ-2618
04/23/85 House Referred to Committee on Ways and Means HJ-2618
05/08/85 House Committee report: Favorable Ways and Means HJ-2965
05/08/85 House Read second time HJ-3031
05/09/85 House Read third time and enrolled HJ-3085
05/15/85 Ratified R 143
05/16/85 Signed By Governor
05/16/85 Effective date 07/01/85
05/16/85 Act No. 98
05/16/85 Section 13 of this Act takes effect 01/01/86
05/28/85 Copies available
(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. |