H.B. 4482: COMMITTEE SUMMARY MISSING CHILDREN CLEARINGHOUSE
House Bill 4482
Sponsor: Representative Michelle McManus House Committee: Human Services
Senate Committee: Families, Mental Health, and Human Services
Date Completed: 4-13-95
The bill would amend the uniform crime reporting Act to establish a missing children information clearinghouse in the Department of State Police; require that information regarding missing children be collected and disseminated to assist in their location; and require law enforcement agencies to report information to the clearinghouse.
The Department would be required to administer the clearinghouse as a central repository of information regarding missing children. The Department Director would have to designate an individual to supervise the clearinghouse. To the extent that money was available, the Department would have to establish services considered appropriate to aid in the location of missing children.
In providing a centralized file for the exchange of information on missing children within the State, the clearinghouse would have to do all of the following:
-- Record each report on a missing child received from a law enforcement agency, as required by the bill.
-- Accept and record a report about a missing child from a law enforcement agency.
-- Exchange information on children suspected of interstate travel with the National Crime Information Center (NCIC).
-- Establish a policy regarding the compilation of a record of the reasons children become missing.
Upon the receipt of reliable information from the law enforcement agency that made the original report that a child reported missing had been located, the child’s record would have to be removed from the clearinghouse. The originating law enforcement agency immediately would have to report to the clearinghouse information that it had about the location of a child who was reported as missing.
The Department could audit law enforcement agency records as necessary to determine compliance with the bill. An agency would have to comply with the reasonable requests of the Department in carrying out this provision and in otherwise administering the clearinghouse.
Currently, if an individual is reported missing under certain circumstances, or if a child is reported missing under any circumstances, the law enforcement agency receiving the report must enter specific information into the Law Enforcement Information Network (LEIN) and the NCIC. This
information includes the person’s name, address, and vital statistics, the date he or she was missing, and any other information that may assist in locating the person. The law enforcement agency also may broadcast this information over the LEIN to other law enforcement agencies. Under the bill, if the missing individual were a child, the law enforcement agency would have to report the information to the proposed clearinghouse, as well as to the LEIN and the NCIC, and would have to broadcast the information over the LEIN to other law enforcement agencies.
The Act also provides that, if the individual is not found within 30 days, the law enforcement agency must seek his or her dental records and enter that information into the NCIC. The bill would require that information from the dental records of a missing child also be reported to the clearinghouse.
In addition, the Act requires a law enforcement agency to enter certain information into the NCIC if an unidentified individual is found or if the unidentified body of a deceased individual is found. The bill would require that this information also be reported to the clearinghouse if the individual were a child or if the body were that of a child.
MCL 28.258 et al. Legislative Analyst: S. Margules
The bill would have a minimal fiscal impact on State and local law enforcement agencies. The bill’s provisions would be met by the use of the existing State LEIN system and current law enforcement personnel. The Department of State Police would create appropriate computer software to establish the clearinghouse program and provide enlisted State Police personnel who are already working on juvenile programs to administer the project.
Fiscal Analyst: B. Baker
S9596\S4482SA
This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.