BILL NUMBER:  S6437A

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act to amend the executive law, in relation to requiring police
agencies to take reports of missing adults whenever the adult is
reported to be missing

 PURPOSE :

To amend the executive law in relation to requiring police agencies to
take reports of missing adults whenever the adult is reported to be
missing.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1 sets forth that this act shall be known and may be cited as
"Lamont Dottin's law".

Section 2 provides if a police agency receives a report that an adult
person is missing from his or her ordinary place of residence who
cannot be located by a person whose relationship with such adult
person would place them in a position to have knowledge of the missing
person's whereabouts, and that such missing person: has a proven
disability, may be in physical danger, is missing after a catastrophe,
may have disappeared involuntarily, or is missing under circumstances
              

where there is a reasonable concern for his or her safety (and such
missing adult person does not qualify as a missing child or vulnerable
adult pursuant to the executive law), the police agency shall collect
information necessary to file an electronic report and submit such
electronic report to the National Crime Information Center Register.

Section 3 provides this act shall take effect on the sixtieth day
after it shall have become a law.

 EXISTING LAW :

Police agencies are not currently required to take and submit reports
of missing adults under the conditions described in this legislation.

 JUSTIFICATION :

Anita Fowler's son, LaMont Dottin, was a freshman at Queens College
(CUNY) when he disappeared on October 18, 1995 after leaving his
grandmother's house to mail a package to his mother, who was in
California. Dr. Fowler returned immediately to New York and began
searching for her son. She tried to report him as missing, but due to
police regulations she was unable to file a report until November 13,
1995. Dr. Fowler searched for five years, when she found that her
son's body was found six days after she reported him as missing and
lay unidentified in a grave at Potter's Field since February 1996.

This legislation seeks to prevent future confusion and heartache by
requiring law enforcement to take a report whenever a person is
reported missing and send such report to the National Crime
Information Center (NCIC) Register.

This will create a permanent record of all reports of missing persons.
This will assist law enforcement in searching for such person if it is
determined subsequent that such person is indeed missing. Further, in
the event the missing person is located in either a hospital or a
morgue, this registry will assist in identifying the person and will
reunite the missing person with his or her family or, if the person is
deceased, it will help the family some semblance of closure.


The previous version of this bill was vetoed by the governor, citing
compliance concerns with the NCIC database because reports were to be
filed even when circumstances did not indicate a missing adult was in
danger. This version of the bill delineates the several situations a
report shall be filed, including but not limited to physical danger,
mirroring the parameters of the NCIC database.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

2015-16: Vetoed by Governor
2015-16: A7468 Passed Assembly
2015-16: S3790 (Sen. Sanders) Passed Senate
2013-14: A10149 Referred to Governmental Operations
2013-14: S7864 (Sen. Sanders) Passed Senate

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None

 LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have
become a law.