Senate Bill 2601

AN ACT TO CREATE THE MISSISSIPPI PINK ALERT SYSTEM ACT OF 2022; TO PROVIDE CERTAIN DEFINITIONS; TO PROVIDE THE CRITERIA TO REQUEST AN ACTIVATION FOR A PINK ALERT; TO PROVIDE THE CRITERIA FOR ACTIVATION OF A PINK ALERT; TO PROVIDE CERTAIN DUTIES OF LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES AND THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY RELATING TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ACT; TO PROVIDE THE PROCEDURE THAT LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES AND THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY MUST FOLLOW WHEN A MISSING PERSON CASE DOES NOT MEET THE PINK ALERT CRITERIA; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. (1) This section shall be known and cited as the "Mississippi Pink Alert System Act of 2022."

(2) As used in this section, the following terms shall have the meanings ascribed herein unless the context clearly requires otherwise:

(a) "E911" means Enhanced Universal Emergency Number Service or Enhanced 911 Service, which is a telephone exchange communications service by which a Public Safety Answering Point designated by the county or local communication district may receive telephone calls dialed to the telephone number 911.

(b) "First responders" means state and local law enforcement personnel, fire department personnel, emergency medical personnel, emergency management personnel and public works personnel who may be deployed to bioterrorism attacks, terrorist attacks, catastrophic or natural disasters and emergencies.

(c) "Originating local law enforcement agency" means a local police or sheriff's office that has jurisdiction over the area where a person became missing.

(3) (a) The Bureau of Investigation of the Department of Public Safety shall implement a statewide "Pink Alert System" that has the purpose of providing a tiered, rapid response system to notify the public about missing endangered female children, who are age thirteen (13) years to seventeen (17) years, who are suspected victims of sex trafficking. The initial response may be local, statewide or national based on available information about the missing person.

(b) A Pink Alert activation request may be made only by a law enforcement agency, and the Bureau of Investigation of the Department of Public Safety may only activate a Pink Alert after a request is made.

(i) The missing female child, age thirteen (13) years old to seventeen (17) years old, is believed to have been a victim of sex trafficking;

(ii) The person is believed to be missing and in imminent danger regardless of circumstance;

(iii) The family, legal caregiver or custodian of the missing person has submitted a missing person's report to the local law enforcement agency in the jurisdiction where the person became missing, with all waiting periods being waived; and

(iv) The law enforcement agency that has jurisdiction of where the person became missing reports the incident to the Bureau of Investigation of the Department of Public Safety through the Mississippi Highway Patrol Headquarters Communication Center.

(d) To initiate a request to activate a Pink Alert, the family, legal caregiver or custodian of the missing person must file immediately a report of the missing person with the local law enforcement agency where the person became missing that includes the following information:

(i) A description of the missing person including physical characteristics, clothing and photos, if available;

(ii) A description of the known circumstances under which the person became missing including the time, place, direction, possible destinations, whether the person was walking or in a vehicle, and all other pertinent information concerning where the person may have become missing; and

(iii) Updates on the missing person as new information becomes available.

(e) The originating local law enforcement agency, after completing the investigation expeditiously and determining that the case meets the qualifying criteria prescribed in this section, shall:

(i) Waive any waiting periods for a missing person's report in order to galvanize the appropriate communities rapidly to assist in the search for and the safe recovery of the missing person in the case of a Pink Alert;

(ii) Notify the Mississippi Highway Patrol Headquarters Communication Center and electronically send to the center the completed Pink Alert forms and available photos, signed by the police chief, sheriff, commanding officer or his or her designee;

(iii) Enter the information into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC);

(iv) Using a tiered approach based on known circumstances, initiate an alert bulletin to all local law enforcement, E911 and first responder agencies to search the immediate area;

(v) Activate secondary alert systems to residents, businesses, and broadcast media in the immediate area;

(vi) Provide a twenty-four-hour phone number to receive calls while continuing the investigation; and

(vii) Update the family, legal caregiver or custodian of the missing person as new information becomes available.

(4) (a) After the Bureau of Investigation of the Department of Public Safety has been contacted by a local law enforcement agency requesting a Pink Alert activation, the Criminal Information Center shall consider before the activation of the Pink Alert procedures by the Pink Alert coordinator, or his or her designee, the information contained in the initial Pink Alert report form to ensure that it meets all criteria specified in subsection (3)(c) of this section. Elements of the missing person case to be considered are:

(i) Threat of imminent harm or death to the missing person because of age, health, mental or physical disability, environmental or weather conditions;

(ii) Time of initial report in relation to the time of disappearance, including whether the disappearance is unexplained, involuntary or is under suspicious circumstances;

(iii) Witness information;

(iv) Possible domestic dispute involving the missing person; and

(v) Other facts that indicate the missing person is in danger of serious injury or death, including whether there is possible criminal intent toward the missing person or whether someone witnessed the disappearance.

(b) Each case shall be reviewed on its own merits, and if there are extenuating circumstances, the required criteria in this section may be amended or expanded depending on the merits presented.

(c) Only the Pink Alert coordinator, or his or her designee, may authorize activation of a statewide Pink Alert and if an activation is authorized, the Criminal Information Center shall:

(i) Prepare an announcement concerning the missing person;

(ii) Contact the designated media stations to activate the alert; and

(iii) Request the Mississippi Department of Transportation to activate electronic signs, if appropriate.

(d) If the missing person is believed to be in a vehicle, the Pink Alert coordinator shall send information and available photos via emails and fax to the statewide communications systems, news media and other forms of public communication or electronic resources.

(5) (a) Following the initial alert, a Pink Alert broadcast shall be updated by television and radio stations as necessary until such time that an end of alert message is received from the law enforcement agency that requested the initial Pink Alert.

(b) Local and statewide broadcast stations shall exercise their own independent discretions as to whether to repeat the required broadcasts prescribed in this section more frequently and shall determine the frequency in which the alert is re-broadcast following the initial alert.

(c) The Pink Alert termination notification shall be issued twenty-four (24) hours after the airing of the latest and most current information or when the case has been resolved and verification from the originating local law enforcement agency has been received by the Department of Public Safety.

(6) (a) If the circumstances of a person's disappearance do not meet the criteria for a Pink Alert to activate statewide communication systems, the Bureau of Investigation of the Department of Public Safety may offer an alternate form of mass notification as provided in this section.

(b) The alternate form of mass notification may be an email that includes a photograph and the Pink Alert initial reporting form that is sent through a statewide network of law enforcement and first responder agencies, news media offices and other forms of public communication.

(c) The email authorized in paragraph (b) of this subsection (6) shall contain information taken from the Pink Alert initial reporting form that is submitted by the originating local law enforcement agency.

(d) The email alerting news media and law enforcement agencies of a person's disappearance that does not meet the criteria of a Pink Alert activation shall include the following paragraph at the beginning of the email:

"The (name of law enforcement agency) has requested the following information be provided to the Mississippi news media and law enforcement agencies: At the present time, information being provided to the Mississippi Department of Public Safety by the (name of law enforcement agency) does not meet the criteria to activate a Pink Alert. It is left to the discretion of each law enforcement agency and news department receiving this email as to whether the attached information, regarding the disappearance of this person and/or the photograph of this person, will be released to the public."

(e) If further investigation into the disappearance produces evidence that may change the initial circumstances as reported to local law enforcement, the Department of Public Safety may reconsider activating a Pink Alert.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2022.