(The Center Square) - The Arizona Senate unanimously passed a bill that requires law enforcement to report missing children more quickly.
Senators this week passed Senate Bill 1416 by a vote of 29 to 0, with one senator absent.
The bill's sponsor - Sen. Shawnna Bolick, R-Deer Valley - told The Center Square that SB 1416 will now be assigned to a House committee.
The bill requires Arizona law enforcement to submit all available identifiable information of a missing child within two hours to the Arizona Crime Information Center and the National Crime Information Center computer networks.
Furthermore, SB 1416 mandates state law enforcement within 24 hours provide more detailed information to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, such as a recent photo of a missing child as well as information about the child’s date of birth, sex, race and physical appearance.
Also, within 24 hours, law enforcement needs to send information about a missing child to media outlets and post about it on their social media accounts, SB 1614 says.
The bill allows police to delay releasing information about a missing child if it compromises the safety of the child, hinders an ongoing investigation or obstructs capturing a suspect.
After 30 days, Arizona law enforcement will need to enter information about a missing child into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, the bill states. The information includes a photo of a missing child in the last six months, medical records and dental records.
On top of all this, the bill requires law enforcement personnel working on missing children cases to undergo training every other year.
Rhonda Dequier, founder of Missing in America Network, an organization that helps locate missing people, told The Center Square the law enforcement training is “to keep them informed of what the latest laws are and how they can best serve these missing children” in Arizona.
Dequier said the bill came about after she and one of her colleagues noticed that only 30% of missing children in the state’s database had photographs in their profiles.
Bolick added that SB 1416 was introduced after numerous stakeholder meetings.
A recommendation that emerged from the stakeholder process was to require “mandatory photo submission for missing children reports that are posted” by the Arizona Department of Public Safety and other state law enforcement agencies.
Bolick said the bill was agreed upon by her and nonprofits that help locate missing children.
“We want to try to do everything we possibly can to locate kids whenever they are reported missing by their parents,” Bolick said.
According to Dequier, the state has around 500 missing children.
“We’re doing everything we can, including legislation, to help find them when they do go missing. We’re also working on ways to prevent them from going missing,” she said.
Dequier said Arizona police do not have enough resources and are understaffed.
“The state is not in a position right now to fund a lot of extra stuff. They’re focusing on retaining police officers and troopers,” Bolick said.
In addition to law enforcement, communities can help law enforcement when children go missing, Dequier noted, adding that they “can be engaged to help find them and ultimately bring them home.”
Another thing SB 1614 does is require law enforcement to use the term “runaway” in certain situations when a child goes missing. The term “runaway” can be used if police determine that the characterization is “necessary to protect the child’s safety or further an active investigation.”
“ When the public sees the word runaway, they automatically think it's not a big deal; they just ran away. We're just too desensitized to the word runaway. Every child missing, no matter what the reason is that they're missing, is in danger the minute that they're out of their parents' purview,” Dequier said.
Looking ahead, Dequier told The Center Square that she doesn’t anticipate SB 1614 having “any resistance” in the state House.
Bolick said she hopes SB 1416 will provide an additional tool to help bring missing kids home “safely.”
“Hopefully, we can help save more kids and keep families together,” she said.
