BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Senator Mark Leno, Chair A
2009-2010 Regular Session B
3
4
AB 34 (Nava and Cook)
As Amended June 10, 2010
Hearing date: June 22, 2010
Penal Code
AA:dl
MISSING PERSONS:
LAW ENFORCEMENT INFORMATION SHARING
HISTORY
Source: More Kids
Prior Legislation: SBx1 12 (Thompson) - Ch. 6, Stats. 1994
SB 2282 (Presley) - Ch. 1456, Stats. 1988
Support: Crime Victims United of California
Opposition:None Known
Assembly Floor Vote: Not Relevant
KEY ISSUES
SHOULD THE STATE'S VIOLENT CRIME INFORMATION CENTER (VCIC) BE
REQUIRED TO RELEASE INFORMATION REGARDING MISSING OR
UNIDENTIFIED PERSONS TO THE NATIONAL MISSING AND UNIDENTIFIED
PERSONS SYSTEM?
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SHOULD LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT BE REQUIRED TO SUBMIT REPORTS OF
MISSING PERSONS UNDER THE AGE OF 21 OR PERSONS BELIEVED TO BE AT
RISK TO THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (DOJ) FOR INCLUSION IN THE
VCIC AND THE NATIONAL CRIME INFORMATION CENTER (NCIC) DATABASES
WITHIN TWO HOURS, INSTEAD OF THE CURRENT FOUR HOURS, AFTER THE
RECEIPT OF THE REPORT, AS SPECIFIED?
PURPOSE
The purpose of this bill is to improve the state's mechanisms
for facilitating swift searches for missing persons by requiring
1) the state's VCIC to release information regarding missing or
unidentified persons to the National Missing and Unidentified
Persons System, and 2 ) local law enforcement to submit reports
of missing persons under the age of 21 or persons believed to be
at risk to the DOJ for inclusion in the VCIC and the NCIC
databases within two hours, instead of the current four hours,
after the receipt of the report, as specified.
Current law requires the Attorney General to "establish and
maintain the VCIC to assist in the identification and the
apprehension of persons responsible for specific violent crimes
and for the disappearance and exploitation of persons,
particularly children and dependent adults. The center shall
establish and maintain programs which include, but are not
limited to, all of the following: developing violent offender
profiles; assisting local law enforcement agencies and county
district attorneys by providing investigative information on
persons responsible for specific violent crimes and missing
person cases; providing physical description information and
photographs, if available, of missing persons to county district
attorneys, nonprofit missing persons organizations, and schools;
and providing statistics on missing dependent adults and on
missing children, including, as may be applicable, family
abductions, nonfamily abductions, voluntary missing, and lost
children or lost dependent adults." (Penal Code 14200.)
Current law further requires the Attorney General to establish
within the center and maintain "an online, automated computer
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system designed to effect an immediate law enforcement response
to reports of missing persons," and requires the Attorney
General to make information available to law enforcement
agencies regarding active files maintained pursuant to these
provisions, as specified. (Penal Code 14201.)
This bill would require the center to "release specific
information, determined by the DOJ, contained in law enforcement
reports regarding missing or unidentified persons to the
National Missing and Unidentified Persons System to assist in
the search for the missing person or persons."
Current law requires local law enforcement to "accept any
report, including any telephonic report, of a missing person,
including runaways, without delay and shall give priority to the
handling of these reports over the handling of reports relating
to crimes involving property. In cases where the person making
a report of a missing person or runaway, contacts, including by
telephone, the California Highway Patrol, the California Highway
Patrol may take the report, and shall immediately advise the
person making the report of the name and telephone number of the
police or sheriff's department having jurisdiction of the
residence address of the missing person and of the name and
telephone number of the police or sheriff's department having
jurisdiction of the place where the person was last seen. In
cases of reports involving missing persons, including, but not
limited to, runaways, the local police or sheriff' s department
shall immediately take the report and make an assessment of
reasonable steps to be taken to locate the person. If the
missing person is under 16 years of age, or there is evidence
that the person is at risk, the department shall broadcast a "Be
On the Look-Out" bulletin, without delay, within its
jurisdiction." (Penal Code 14205(a).)
Current law further provides that if "the person reported
missing is under 16 years of age, or if
there is evidence that the person is at risk, the local police,
sheriff's department, or the California Highway Patrol shall
submit the report to the Attorney General's office within four
hours after
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accepting the report. After the California Law Enforcement
Telecommunications System online missing person registry becomes
operational, the reports shall be submitted, within four hours
after accepting the report, to the Attorney General's office
through the use of the California Telecommunications System."
(Penal Code 14205(b).)
This bill would revise this subdivision to provide that if the
person reported missing is under 21 years of age, or if there
is evidence that the person is at risk, the law enforcement
agency receiving the report shall, within two hours after the
receipt of the report, transmit the report to the DOJ for
inclusion in the VCIC and the NCIC databases.
RECEIVERSHIP/OVERCROWDING CRISIS AGGRAVATION IMPLICATIONS
The severe prison overcrowding problem California has
experienced for the last several years has not been solved. In
December of 2006 plaintiffs in two federal lawsuits against the
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation sought a
court-ordered limit on the prison population pursuant to the
federal Prison Litigation Reform Act. On January 12, 2010, a
federal three-judge panel issued an order requiring the state to
reduce its inmate population to 137.5 percent of design capacity
-- a reduction of roughly 40,000 inmates -- within two years.
In a prior, related 184-page Opinion and Order dated August 4,
2009, that court stated in part:
"California's correctional system is in a tailspin,"
the state's independent oversight agency has reported.
. . . (Jan. 2007 Little Hoover Commission Report,
"Solving California's Corrections Crisis: Time Is
Running Out"). Tough-on-crime politics have increased
the population of California's prisons dramatically
while making necessary reforms impossible. . . . As a
result, the state's prisons have become places "of
extreme peril to the safety of persons" they house, .
. . (Governor Schwarzenegger's Oct. 4, 2006 Prison
Overcrowding State of Emergency Declaration), while
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contributing little to the safety of California's
residents, . . . . California "spends more on
corrections than most countries in the world," but the
state "reaps fewer public safety benefits." . . . .
Although California's existing prison system serves
neither the public nor the inmates well, the state has
for years been unable or unwilling to implement the
reforms necessary to reverse its continuing
deterioration. (Some citations omitted.)
. . .
The massive 750% increase in the California prison
population since the mid-1970s is the result of
political decisions made over three decades, including
the shift to inflexible determinate sentencing and the
passage of harsh mandatory minimum and three-strikes
laws, as well as the state's counterproductive parole
system. Unfortunately, as California's prison
population has grown, California's political
decision-makers have failed to provide the resources
and facilities required to meet the additional need
for space and for other necessities of prison
existence. Likewise, although state-appointed experts
have repeatedly provided numerous methods by which the
state could safely reduce its prison population, their
recommendations have been ignored, underfunded, or
postponed indefinitely. The convergence of
tough-on-crime policies and an unwillingness to expend
the necessary funds to support the population growth
has brought California's prisons to the breaking
point. The state of emergency declared by Governor
Schwarzenegger almost three years ago continues to
this day, California's prisons remain severely
overcrowded, and inmates in the California prison
system continue to languish without constitutionally
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adequate medical and mental health care.<1>
The court stayed implementation of its January 12, 2010 ruling
pending the state's appeal of the decision to the U.S. Supreme
Court. On Monday June 14, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed
to hear the state's appeal in this case.
This bill would not aggravate the prison overcrowding crisis
described above.
COMMENTS
1. Stated Need for This Bill
The authors state in part:
Every year an estimated 800,000 children are reported
missing, more than 105,000 in California alone. This
equates to more than 2,000 children each day. A large
proportion of those are abducted by non-family members
under suspicious or unknown circumstances. A number
of high-profile missing children cases within the last
decade have brought to light the need to bring
California's laws and processes for missing person
response and recovery in the 21st century.
In 2009 in California, 105,171 children were reported
missing, according to the Department of Justice. Of
that number:
o 47,407 were male;
o 57,764 were female;
o 100,043 were determined to be runaways;
o 268 were reported "lost;"
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<1> Three Judge Court Opinion and Order, Coleman v.
Schwarzenegger, Plata v. Schwarzenegger, in the United States
District Courts for the Eastern District of California and the
Northern District of California United States District Court
composed of three judges pursuant to Section 2284, Title 28
United States Code (August 4, 2009).
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o 12 went missing as a result of catastrophe;
o 45 were abducted by strangers;
o 1,210 went missing at the hands of a family
member;
o 349 were abducted under suspicious
circumstances; and
o 3,244 went missing under unknown
circumstances.
In 1983, federal law was amended to require law
enforcement agencies to notify the National Crime
Information Center (NCIC) of missing children within 4
hours of a report being filed.
According to a 1997 study, Case Management for Missing
Children Homicide Investigation, the murder of an
abducted child is a rare event?yet 76.2% of abducted
children who are murdered are dead within three hours
of the abduction.
House Resolution 4472, the Adam Walsh Child Protection
and Safety Act, signed into law in 2006 by President
George W. Bush, provided additional missing children
funds to states that implemented a number of new
mandates - one of which was an updated, 2 hour NCIC
notification timeframe. To date, only Ohio has
complied with the Act due to complexities in meeting
mandates.
In 2008, Florida separately acted, as part of the
Jennifer Kesse and Tiffany Sessions Missing Person Act
to require a 2 hour NCIC notification timeframe for
state law enforcement agencies. AB 34 replicates this
action by requiring that California's local law
enforcement agencies report information to NCIC and
the California Violent Crime Information Center . . .
in a similar timeframe.
Under federal law, information on missing persons may
also be disclosed to the National Center for Missing
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and Exploited Children (NCMEC), a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit
organization. In recent years, however, a number of
nonprofit organizations have been created, including
Klaas Kids, for purposes of raising awareness about
missing children, educating parents and families about
safe child
practices (i.e. "Stranger Danger"), and for assisting
law enforcement agencies in their searches for the
missing.
Concurrently, local governments across California have
faced nearly ten years of budget reductions as the
state grapples with ongoing fiscal crises.
Consequently, many communities have seen cutbacks in
the numbers of their front line police officers. With
this in mind, AB 34 provides that the CVIC shall
release information contained in missing persons
reports to specified (national entities), that may
assist in the search for said missing person(s). . . .
2. What This Bill Would Do
As explained above, this bill would do the following with
respect to the state's mechanisms for facilitating swift
searches for missing persons:
1) require the state's VCIC to release information regarding
missing or unidentified persons to the National Missing and
Unidentified Persons System; and
2 ) require local law enforcement to submit reports of missing
persons under the age of 21 or persons believed to be at risk
to the DOJ for inclusion in the VCIC and the NCIC databases
within two hours, instead of the current four hours, after the
receipt of the report, as specified.
WOULD THIS BILL ENHANCE THE ABILITY OF LAW ENFORCEMENT TO FIND
MISSING PERSONS MORE QUICKLY?
3. Background: DOJ Missing and Unidentified Persons Unit
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The DOJ provides the following information on its website:
The Missing and Unidentified Persons Unit in the
California Department of Justice assists law
enforcement and criminal justice agencies in locating
missing persons and identifying unknown live and
deceased persons through the comparison of physical
characteristics, fingerprints and dental/body X-rays.
Subscribe to receive Missing Persons Bulletins in your
e-mail inbox.
In California, a missing person is someone whose
whereabouts is unknown to the reporting party. This
includes any child who may have run away, been taken
involuntary or may be in need of assistance. It
includes a child illegally taken, held or hidden by a
parent or non-parent family member (See California
Penal Code Sections 277-280 ).
There is NO waiting period for reporting a person
missing. All California police and sheriffs'
departments must accept any report, including a report
by telephone,
of a missing person, including runaways, without delay
and will give priority to the handling of the report.
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Schools are part of the network to help find missing
children, not only through notices required to be
given to a public school district or private school
within 10 days of a child's disappearance but also
through use of our Missing Person Bulletin.
By making photographs of missing persons available, we
seek to aid in the identification and recovery of
missing persons. According to the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children , one in six missing
children are recovered as a direct result of someone
recognizing their photo and notifying authorities. We
also offer resources on this website for locating
missing persons and safeguarding your children.
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The following offers a summary of some of our
programs. Further information is available by
selecting the program categories on the left menu.
Missing Persons Search. A searchable database of
missing persons allows you to look for a missing
person by name, description, county and several other
categories.
Missing Children Clearinghouse. The Clearinghouse
provides a nationwide, toll-free hotline to receive
tips on the whereabouts of missing persons. Call
toll-free: 1-800-222-FIND (1-800-222-3463)
Featured Missing Children and Adult Cases. The number
of active missing person cases averages around 25,000
in California. The Featured Missing Children and
Featured Missing Adults highlight cases where
photographs have been submitted by law enforcement for
use in accordance with laws and policies for sharing
the image of the missing person. To have a photograph
added, family members of a missing person should
submit their photographs to the law enforcement agency
taking the missing person report.
Featured Unidentified Person. There are currently over
2,100 reports of unidentified persons in our automated
database. Periodically, we will be providing
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photographs or drawings of selected cases.<2>
4. Background: The National Crime Information Center
As explained above, this bill would require the swift inclusion
of specified missing person report information to DOJ which
would be included in the NCIC databases. The NCIC includes the
following information about its mission on its website:
The National Crime Information Center, or NCIC, was
launched on January 27, 1967 with five files and
356,784 records. By the end of 2009, NCIC contained
more than 15 million active records in 19 files. NCIC
averages 7.5 million transactions per day.
NCIC helps criminal justice professionals apprehend
fugitives, locate missing persons, recover stolen
property, and identify terrorists. It also assists law
enforcement officers in performing their official
duties more safely and provides them with information
necessary to aid in protecting the general public.
About the records: The NCIC database currently
consists of 19 files. There are seven property files
containing records of stolen articles, boats, guns,
license plates, parts, securities, and vehicles. There
are 12 persons files containing the Supervised
Release; National Sex Offender Registry; Foreign
Fugitive; Immigration Violator; Missing Person;
Protection Order; Unidentified Person; U.S. Secret
Service Protective; Gang; Known or Appropriately
Suspected Terrorist; Wanted Person; and Identity Theft
Files. The system also contains images that can be
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<2> http://ag.ca.gov/missing/.
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associated with NCIC records to help agencies identify
people and property items. The Interstate
Identification Index, which contains automated
criminal history record information, is accessible
through the same network as NCIC. . . .
How NCIC is used: Criminal justice agencies enter
records into NCIC that are accessible to law
enforcement agencies nationwide. For example, a law
enforcement officer can search NCIC during a traffic
stop to determine if the vehicle in question is stolen
or if the driver is a wanted by law enforcement. The
system responds instantly. However, a positive
response from NCIC is not probable cause for an
officer to take action. NCIC policy requires the
inquiring agency to make contact with the entering
agency to verify the information is accurate and
up-to-date. Once the record is confirmed, the
inquiring agency may take action to arrest a fugitive,
return a missing person, charge a subject with
violation of a protection order, or recover stolen
property.
Cooperation is key: NCIC has operated under a shared
management concept between the FBI and federal, state,
local, and tribal criminal justice users since its
inception. There are two facets to the shared
management concept-policy and functional. . . .<3>
***************
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<3> http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/ncic.htm.
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