Missing Persons Investigations Bill Heads To Governor's Desk

FRANKFORT, IL — A bill which creates new guidelines for missing persons investigations is awaiting Gov. J.B. Pritzker's signature after it passed the Illinois General Assembly.

The bill, which was championed by Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart and sponsored by Sen. Michael Hastings in the Senate and Rep. Debbie Meyers-Martin in the House, requires law enforcement in Illinois to take a report immediately when they are notified of a missing person and enter it into the Law Enforcement Agencies Data System (LEADS).

SB 24 also sets timelines for follow-up actions if the person is not located quickly, according to a release. If a person is missing for more than 60 days, investigators will be required to collect any existing fingerprint records, dental records, and photographs and enter that information into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), a federal database.

Law enforcement agencies must adopt a strategy regarding missing persons investigations, reporting and follow-up action.

"In missing persons cases, every second and small piece of information is paramount,” Sen. Hastings said last month when the bill passed the Senate Criminal Law Committee. “This legislation works to give law enforcement effective strategies and protocols to solve cases and save lives.”

Current law only requires that agencies review and utilize criminal databases to find a missing or unidentified person. However, if someone has not gone through the criminal justice system then they would not be identified in these databases, according to a release.

NamUs is not a criminal database and some case information on NamUs is searchable by the public. Mandatory entry of missing person reports into NamUs allows family members to search for their missing loved ones, according to the release.

The bill also mandates that missing persons cases also remain active with the respective law enforcement agency, and in the databases, until the person is located.

“The worst case scenario is when a missing persons case turns into a cold case,” Sen. Hastings said in a previous release. “This will ensure that no stone goes unturned when the police are trying to track down a missing person.”

Sheriff Dart’s Missing Persons Project was the inspiration for this bill, a release states. Launched in 2021, the Missing Persons Project is a team of Sheriff’s Police investigators who work to solve long-term missing women cases using all available investigative and forensic methods, including NamUs.

“When a loved one goes missing, time is of the essence,” Dart said in a release. “This bill provides a guide for law enforcement on how to respond and follow up on missing persons investigations and provide answers to family members regarding their loved one’s whereabouts. I commend
the Illinois General Assembly for passing this legislation and urge Governor JB Pritzker to sign this bill into law.”