39F.180 Reports of search and rescue missions -- Immediate search for lost, missing, or overdue person permitted.

Loading PDF...

Page 1 of 2 39F.180 Reports of search and rescue missions -- Immediate search for lost, missing, or overdue person permitted. (1) All 911 centers and dispatch centers, law enforcement agencies, law enforcement dispatchers, fire departments, rescue squads, emergency medical service agencies, and emergency management agencies shall report the information required to be reported by administrative regulation, for all reports of persons missing, lost, or overdue, if a search for the lost person has lasted for more than two (2) hours to: (a) The local emergency management director; and (b) The local search and rescue coordinator for the jurisdiction in which the person is reported missing. (2) (a) Any search for a missing minor, as that term is defined in KRS 2.015, shall be reported to the Department of Kentucky State Police by the person or organization to whom the missing minor is reported. (b) A search for a person who is known or reported to have an organic brain disorder, including but not limited to Alzheimer's disease, shall immediately be reported as a Golden Alert to the local emergency management director, local search and rescue coordinator if different from the local emergency manager, local media outlets, and the duty officer of the Division of Emergency Management by the person managing the search or by the organization conducting the search. The provisions of this section do not apply to any licensed long-term health care provider conducting a search for a missing resident until the provider requests a search by a person or organization specified in subsection (1) of this section. (c) The making of this report does not relieve the person or organization from the duty to make other notifications and reports required in this section. (3) Any search and rescue mission which has lasted four (4) hours without the subject being located shall be immediately reported to the duty officer of the Division of Emergency Management by telephone or radio. (4) The results of each lost, missing, or overdue person report or search mission required to be reported under subsections (1) to (3) of this section shall be reported to the division and the local director on forms provided by the division and containing the information required by administrative regulation. The report shall be filed within twenty (20) days after: (a) The search and rescue mission is discontinued; or (b) The victim has not been found and a decision is made to keep the case open or continue searching on a limited basis, whichever occurs earlier. (5) Each agency required to notify a local emergency management director or the division of a report of a missing person, or a search mission pursuant to this section shall develop a written standard operating procedure for handling and reporting requests to search for missing, lost, or overdue persons. This standard operating procedure shall be a public record. Page 2 of 2 (6) The contents of reports, information to be conveyed upon notification, and other matters relating to the administration of this section and the securing of information required hereby shall be specified by the division by administrative regulations. (7) There is no requirement in Kentucky to delay the search for or rescue of any lost, missing, or overdue person. Any person who is reported lost, missing, or overdue, adult or child, may be searched for immediately by any emergency management, fire, law enforcement, emergency medical services, search and rescue, rescue squad, or other similar organization to which a missing or overdue person is reported. No public safety answering point, emergency dispatch center, or 911 center shall delay any call reporting a person lost, overdue, or missing to the organization specified in the county search and rescue annex of the county emergency management plan as responsible for searching for lost, missing, or overdue persons. Effective: July 15, 2008 History: Amended 2008 Ky. Acts ch. 109, sec. 3, effective July 15, 2008. -- Amended 2007 Ky. Acts ch. 85, sec. 122, effective June 26, 2007. -- Amended 2002 Ky. Acts ch. 136, sec. 1, effective July 15, 2002. -- Created 1998 Ky. Acts ch. 226, sec. 100, effective July 15, 1998. Legislative Research Commission Note (7/15/2008). 2008 Ky. Acts ch. 109, sec. 4, provides that Sections 1 to 3 of this Act, which included an amendment to this statute, shall be know as the "Golden Alert Bill."