BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 33|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 33
Author: Nava (D) and Cook (R)
Amended: 7/15/10 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 7-0, 6/29/10
AYES: Leno, Cogdill, Cedillo, Hancock, Huff, Steinberg,
Wright
SENATE BANKING, FINANCE & INS. COMMITTEE : Not relevant
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 11-0, 08/12/10
AYES: Kehoe, Ashburn, Alquist, Corbett, Emmerson, Leno,
Price, Walters, Wolk, Wyland, Yee
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not relevant
SUBJECT : Child abduction: sex offender identification
SOURCE : More Kids
DIGEST : This bill (1) states that it is the intent of
the Legislature to encourage law enforcement agencies to
obtain and utilize the list, as specified, of registered
sex offenders from the Violent Crime Information Center in
the event of a reported stranger abduction of a child; (2)
states that the Legislature suggests that each law
enforcement agency adopt, promulgate, and offer training
regarding missing children and the reporting of missing
children, as specified; (3) requires that the Department of
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Justice (DOJ) make accessible to law enforcement agencies,
as specified, the Peace Officer Standards and Training
Commission's (POST) "Guidelines for Handling Missing
Persons Investigations," relating to the investigation of
missing persons; (4) requires that, by January 1, 2012, law
enforcement agencies adopt a checklist document directing
peace officers on investigation guidelines and resources
available to them in the early hours of a missing persons
investigation, as specified; (5) requires that by January
1, 2012, law enforcement agencies adopt a policy,
regulations, or guidelines on missing persons
investigations, as specified; (6) requires that, by January
1, 2012, law enforcement agencies utilize DOJ's missing
person reporting form, at a minimum for the initial contact
with the parent or family member reporting a missing
person; (7) requires that, as necessary and appropriate,
the POST commission modify its missing persons
investigations guidelines and curriculum with contemporary
information, as specified; and (8) requires that DOJ's
Violent Crime Information Center make available, within two
hours of a reported stranger abduction of a child, a list
of persons required to register as sex offenders based upon
the modus operandi, if available, or the specified
geographical location from which the child was abducted.
ANALYSIS : Current law requires the Attorney General (AG)
to establish and maintain the Violent Crime Information
Center (center) 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: (1)
developing violent offender profiles; (2) assisting local
law enforcement agencies and county district attorneys by
providing investigative information on persons responsible
for specific violent crimes and missing person cases; (3)
providing physical description information and photographs,
if available, of missing persons to county district
attorneys, nonprofit missing persons organizations, and
schools; and (4) providing statistics on missing dependent
adults and on missing children, including, as may be
applicable, family abductions, non-family abductions,
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voluntary missing, and lost children or lost dependent
adults. (Penal Code Section 14200.)
Current law further requires the AG to establish within the
center and maintain "an online, automated computer system
designed to affect an immediate law enforcement response to
reports of missing persons," and requires the AG to make
information available to law enforcement agencies regarding
active files maintained pursuant to these provisions, as
specified. (Penal Code Section 14201.)
Current law requires the AG to establish and maintain
within the center an investigative support unit and an
automated violent crime method of operation system to
facilitate the identification and apprehension of persons
responsible for murder, kidnap, including parental
abduction, false imprisonment, or sexual assault. This
unit shall be responsible for identifying perpetrators of
violent felonies collected from the center and analyzing
and comparing data on missing persons in order to determine
possible leads which could assist local law enforcement
agencies. This unit shall only release information about
active investigations by police and sheriffs' departments
to local law enforcement agencies.
The AG shall make available to the investigative support
unit files organized by category of offender or victim and
shall seek information from other files as needed by the
unit. This set of files may include, among others, the
following:
Missing or unidentified, deceased persons' dental
files filed pursuant to this title, Section 27521 of
the Government Code, or Section 102870 of the Health
and Safety Code.
Child abuse reports filed pursuant to Section
11169.
Sex offender registration files maintained pursuant
to Section 290.
State summary criminal history information
maintained pursuant to Section 11105.
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Information obtained pursuant to the parent locator
service maintained pursuant to Section 11478.5 of the
Welfare and Institutions Code.
Information furnished to the DOJ pursuant to
Section 11107.
Other AG's office files as requested by the
investigative support unit. (Penal Code Section
14202.)
Current law requires the Commission on POST to implement a
course or courses of instruction for the training of law
enforcement officers and law enforcement dispatchers in the
handling of missing person and runaway cases and to develop
guidelines for law enforcement response to missing person
and runaway cases. The course or courses of instruction
and the guidelines shall include, but not be limited to:
Timeliness and priority of response.
Assisting persons who make missing person reports
to contact the appropriate law enforcement agency in
the jurisdiction of the residence address of the
missing person or runaway and the appropriate law
enforcement agency in the jurisdiction where the
missing person or runaway was last seen.
Coordinating law enforcement agencies for the
purpose of efficiently and effectively taking and
investigating missing person reports.
As used in this section, "law enforcement" includes any
officers or employees of a local police or sheriff's office
or of the California Highway Patrol (CHP).
This course of training on investigation of missing person
reports is required to be included within the course of
basic training for law enforcement officers and law
enforcement dispatchers. (Penal Code Section 13519.1.)
Current law requires local law enforcement to "accept any
report, including any telephonic report, of a missing
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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 CHP, the CHP
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 Section 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 CHP shall submit the report to the AG's
office within four hours after 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 AG's office through the use of
the California Telecommunications System." (Penal Code
Section 14205(b).)
This bill declares that it is the intent of the Legislature
to encourage law enforcement agencies to obtain and utilize
the list, created pursuant to Section 14202 of the Penal
Code, of registered sex offenders from the Violent Crime
Information Center in the event of a reported stranger
abduction of a child.
This bill states that the Legislature suggests that each
law enforcement agency adopt, promulgate, and offer
training that is consistent with state and federal law and
with the agency's specific policy regarding missing
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children and the reporting of missing children.
This bill requires that DOJ shall make accessible to law
enforcement agencies, via a department bulletin and the
California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, POST
Commission's "Guidelines for Handling Missing Persons
Investigations" or any subsequent similar guidelines
created by the commission, relating to the investigation of
missing persons.
This bill requires that, by January 1, 2012, law
enforcement agencies shall adopt a checklist document
directing peace officers on investigation guidelines and
resources available to them in the early hours of an
investigation. The POST Commission's "Guidelines for
Handling Missing Persons Investigations" should be used as
a model policy or example in developing the checklist
document.
This bill requires, by January 1, 2012, law enforcement
agencies adopt a policy, regulations, or guidelines on
missing persons investigations that are consistent with
state and federal law. The POST Commission's "Guidelines
for Handling Missing Persons Investigations" should be used
as a model policy or example in developing the policy,
regulations, or guidelines.
This bill requires, by January 1, 2012, law enforcement
agencies utilize DOJ's missing person reporting form, at a
minimum for the initial contact with the parent or family
member reporting a missing person.
This bill requires that, as necessary and appropriate, the
POST Commission shall modify its missing person's
investigations guidelines and curriculum with contemporary
information. Specifically, the Commission should consider
including and revising their guidelines to include both of
the following:
Steps for law enforcement agencies in the first few
hours after the reporting of a missing person.
Information on the availability of the department
task forces, the SAFE Task Force Regional Teams, and
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other entities that can assist in the search for a
missing person.
This bill requires that DOJ's Investigative Support Unit
make available, within two hours of a reported stranger
abduction of a child, a list of persons required to
register as sex offenders based upon the modus operandi, if
available, or the specified geographical location from
which the child was abducted.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee analysis:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2010-11 2011-12
2012-13 Fund
DOJ notifications/ Minor and
absorbable workload
General
information
Mandate: local law Potentially
significant reimbursable General
enforcement costs
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/16/10)
More Kids (source)
Crime Victims United of California
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
"AB 33 is critical for improving government's response when
a child goes missing. It is a careful measure, with
policies derived from conversations with law enforcement
and nonprofit groups focusing on missing children. These
conversations demonstrated that there are many resources
available to aid in the search for a missing child. These
range from search-and-investigation model policies for law
enforcement to advanced databases on violent criminals to
task forces that can assist in a search. Yet knowledge of
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these resources is lacking. Moreover, California does not
require all law enforcement agencies to have policies in
place to deal with a missing child. Without awareness of
these resources and without policies in place at the local
level, our ability to find a missing child is greatly
reduced. AB 33 addresses these issues.
"The California Peace Officers Standards and Training
Commission (POST) has created guidelines for
investigations, yet these guidelines are not necessarily
known, nor are they necessarily in use. To increase
awareness, the Department of Justice (DOJ) under AB 33 will
disseminate POST's "Guidelines For Handling Missing Persons
Investigations" via a DOJ bulletin and through the
California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System.
Additionally, AB 33 will require law enforcement agencies
to adopt a checklist document directing officers during the
early hours of a missing person investigation - a critical
time for the safe recovery of a child. Furthermore, it
will require law enforcement agencies to have policy,
regulations, or guidelines on missing persons
investigations in place by January 1, 2012. Law
enforcement agencies may implement their own policies or
look to POST guidelines as a model. AB 33 will also
require law enforcement agencies to utilize a missing
person reporting form during the initial investigation of a
missing person. This will ensure that officers collect all
necessary details in order to aid in the search for that
missing person.
"Many law enforcement agencies already comply with the
requirements of AB 33. However, others might meet some
requirements or none at all. Without a comprehensive
approach in place for all jurisdictions, critical details
can be overlooked, and a child's life could be endangered.
With model policies available from POST, it is reasonable
and prudent to that require policies be in place at each
law enforcement agency.
"AB 33 also directs POST to update their Guidelines For
Handling Missing Persons Investigations. In discussions
with POST, the DOJ, and members of law enforcement, it
became apparent that POST's guidelines lacked references to
important resources, such as SAFE (Sexual Assault Felony
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Enforcement) Task Force Regional Teams and various task
forces under the DOJ Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, which
can assist in the search for a missing child. These
resources are critical when local law enforcement is in
need of assistance. Without knowledge of these resources
and without inclusion in POST's guidelines, which can serve
as a model for all law enforcement, we do not maximize our
ability to find a missing child.
"Finally, AB 33 points to important technology in searching
for a suspect in a missing child case. While the state and
federal governments retain detailed information on sex
offenders and other dangerous criminals, this information
is of little use at the time of a stranger abduction of a
child if it is not in the hands of law enforcement. The
Violent Crimes Information Center (VCIC) has the capability
to create a list of possible suspects, based on a number of
criteria, and provide that list to law enforcement. AB 33
directs VCIC to do so and states that it is the intent of
the Legislature that law enforcement obtain and utilize
this list. We must maximize all tools in the search for a
missing child, and producing a list of possible suspects is
of the utmost importance. The sophistication and wealth of
information retained at the VCIC reflect a drive to
incorporate advanced technology in our fight against crime
and in our fight to keep children safe. The next logical
step is to make sure information moves from the database to
the front lines, where law enforcement can use it."
RJG:do 8/16/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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