Improving Missing Person Investigations

The act requires the division of criminal justice within the department of public safety (department) to annually report to the general assembly during the department's "State Measurement for Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Government Act" hearings any significant data, including trends over time, regarding missing person cases in Colorado. The report must include specific information about missing person cases involving women from minority communities, which includes women from African-American, Black, Asian-American, Pacific Islander, Indigenous and tribal, Hispanic, Latino, and transgender communities, and information about missing person cases involving persons 50 years of age or older.

The act requires any law enforcement agency to accept a missing person report submitted in person if the missing person is a Colorado resident or was last believed to be in Colorado. The act requires law enforcement agencies to accept a missing person report by telephone or other electronic media if accepting the report by those means is consistent with the agency's policies or practices. The act adds circumstances in which a law enforcement agency is not required to accept a missing person report.

The act requires a law enforcement agency that receives a report of a missing adult to, within 8 hours after receiving the report, enter relevant information into the Colorado crime information center (CCIC) database and, as appropriate, contact other law enforcement agencies that may assist in locating the missing person. In the case of a reported missing child, a law enforcement agency must, within 2 hours after receiving the report, notify the Colorado bureau of investigation and enter any relevant information into the CCIC database.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)