Enacts "Destini Smothers' law"; requires collaboration between law enforcement agencies in missing persons investigations; provides support for relatives of such missing persons.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7591
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
December 13, 2021
___________
Introduced by Sen. SANDERS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to enacting "Destini
Smothers' law" to require collaboration between law enforcement agen-
cies in missing persons investigations and to provide support for
relatives of such missing persons
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as "Destini Smoth-
2 ers' law".
3 § 2. Section 640 of the executive law is amended by adding a new
4 subdivision 3 to read as follows:
5 3. (a) For the purposes of this article, the term "crime victim" shall
6 include a relative of a missing person as defined in paragraph (c) of
7 this subdivision.
8 (b) "Missing person" shall include a "missing child" as defined in
9 section eight hundred thirty-seven-e of this chapter, a "missing vulner-
10 able adult" as defined in section eight hundred thirty-seven-f-1 of this
11 chapter, and a "missing adult" as defined in section eight hundred thir-
12 ty-seven-f-2 of this chapter, who is missing under circumstances where
13 there is a reasonable concern for his or her safety or whose disappear-
14 ance has been determined by law enforcement to have been involuntary.
15 (c) "Relative of a missing person" means (i) any person related to a
16 missing person as defined in paragraph (b) of this subdivision within
17 the third degree of consanguinity or affinity; (ii) any person maintain-
18 ing a sexual relationship with such missing person; or (iii) any person
19 residing in the same household with such missing person; provided,
20 however, that such term shall not apply to any such person whom the
21 investigating law enforcement agency reasonably suspects to have been
22 involved in the missing person's disappearance; (iv) who has been
23 convicted of a family offense as defined in subdivision one of section
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13420-02-1
S. 7591 2
1 530.11 of the criminal procedure law or section eight hundred twelve of
2 the family court act committed against the missing person; (v) is the
3 defendant or respondent or both in any family offense proceeding pending
4 in criminal court or family court where the family offense is alleged to
5 have been committed against the missing person; (vi) is or has been the
6 subject of an order of protection in favor of the missing person; or
7 (vii) whom the law enforcement agency has reasonable cause to believe
8 has perpetrated a family offense or otherwise committed an act or acts
9 of domestic violence against the missing person, regardless of whether
10 any prosecution, family offense proceeding, or conviction resulted from
11 such conduct.
12 (d) All fair treatment standards and criteria required pursuant to
13 this article, and any services and supports provided to crime victims in
14 connection therewith, shall be available to relatives of missing persons
15 to the extent such fair treatment standards are applicable at the rele-
16 vant stage of a missing persons investigation.
17 § 3. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 1 of section 641 of the executive
18 law, as added by chapter 94 of the laws of 1984, is amended to read as
19 follows:
20 (b) availability of appropriate public or private programs that
21 provide counseling, treatment or support for crime victims, including
22 but not limited to the following: rape crisis centers, victim/witness
23 assistance programs, elderly victim services, trauma-informed inter-
24 vention services, emotional support services, mental health care
25 services, victim assistance hotlines and domestic violence shelters;
26 § 4. Subdivision 5 of section 642 of the executive law, as amended by
27 chapter 263 of the laws of 1986, is amended to read as follows:
28 5. Victim assistance education and training, with special consider-
29 ation to be given to victims of domestic violence, sex offense victims,
30 sex trafficking victims, elderly victims, child victims, relatives of
31 missing persons, and the families of homicide victims, shall be given to
32 persons taking courses at state law enforcement training facilities and
33 by district attorneys so that victims may be promptly, properly and
34 completely assisted.
35 § 5. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 837-f-3 to
36 read as follows:
37 § 837-f-3. Law enforcement collaboration in missing persons investi-
38 gations. 1. The division shall, on or before January first, two thousand
39 twenty-three, in consultation with the division of state police, every
40 police agency in this state, every district attorney in this state, and
41 such other qualified agencies the department deems appropriate, develop,
42 adopt, implement and thereafter regularly update a uniform plan for
43 collaboration between police agencies in missing persons investigations.
44 Such plan shall involve a pro-active, coordinated response, planned in
45 advance, that is triggered immediately upon confirmation by a police
46 officer, peace officer or police agency of a report of a missing person.
47 2. Such plans shall, at a minimum, require that:
48 (a) the name of the missing person, a description of the person and
49 other pertinent information be immediately dispatched over the police
50 communication system to all local and state agencies;
51 (b) there shall be no presumption that persons between the ages of
52 nineteen and sixty-four are not missing;
53 (c) the agency shall ascertain whether the missing person is or has
54 been the victim of a family offense as defined in subdivision one of
55 section 530.11 of the criminal procedure law or section eight hundred
56 twelve of the family court act, and if so, the agency shall immediately
S. 7591 3
1 transmit such information along with any records in its possession
2 relating thereto to every local and state agency, and shall immediately
3 request and obtain any such records in the possession of another local
4 or state agency;
5 (d) relatives of missing persons are provided with the services and
6 information required to be given to crime victims pursuant to section
7 six hundred forty-one of this chapter; and
8 (e) routine notification of relatives of missing persons of the status
9 of the missing persons investigation, to the extent such information
10 will not jeopardize the investigation or the safety of the missing
11 person or another person.
12 3. Police agencies not connected with the basic police communication
13 system in use in such jurisdiction shall transmit such information to
14 the nearest or most convenient teletypewriter point, from which point it
15 shall be immediately dispatched, in conformity with the orders, rules or
16 regulations governing the system.
17 4. In the event that a police agency receives a report of an adult
18 missing person as defined in section eight hundred thirty-seven-f-2 of
19 this article and such agency knows or has reasonable cause to believe
20 that such missing adult person is or has been the victim of a family
21 offense as defined in subdivision one of section 530.11 of the criminal
22 procedure law or section eight hundred twelve of the family court act,
23 or has otherwise been the victim of domestic violence, regardless of
24 whether any family offense proceeding or criminal prosecution was
25 commenced, there shall be a presumption that such person is missing
26 under circumstances where there is a reasonable concern for his or her
27 safety.
28 5. No dispatch or transmission of a report concerning missing persons
29 shall be required by such plan if the investigating police department
30 determines that the release of such information would jeopardize the
31 investigation or the safety of the person, or otherwise requires
32 forbearance.
33 § 6. This act shall take effect January 1, 2023. Effective immediate-
34 ly, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation
35 necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are
36 authorized to be made and completed on or before such effective date.
