Title 23 - Law Enforcement and Public Safety
CHAPTER 3.
SOUTH CAROLINA LAW-ENFORCEMENT DIVISION
ARTICLE 1.
GENERAL PROVISIONS
SECTION 23-3-200. Creation of Center; use of FBI file.
SECTION 23-3-10. Creation, chief and personnel of South Carolina Law-Enforcement Division.
There is created the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED). The division must be headed by a chief appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate and shall hold office until his successor is appointed and qualified. The term of the chief is six years. On the effective date of the provisions of this section providing for a six-year term for the chief, a successor to the chief serving on this date must be appointed as provided herein. Nothing herein prevents the chief serving on this date from being reappointed to additional six-year terms. The chief may only be removed pursuant to the provisions of Section 1-3-240 of the 1976 Code. The agents and officers of the division must be commissioned by the Governor upon the recommendation of the chief. The agents and officers shall have that rank or title as may be provided under the State Employees Classification System. The chief may appoint other personnel considered necessary and as provided for in the annual appropriations act. All agents and officers commissioned by the Governor are subject to discharge for cause which must be subject to review as is now provided by law for other state employees.
SECTION 23-3-15. Additional jurisdiction, authority and responsibilities; exclusive authority; other agencies or departments to assist SLED.
(A) In addition to those authorities and responsibilities set forth in this chapter, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division shall have specific and exclusive jurisdiction and authority statewide, on behalf of the State, in matters including but not limited to the following functions and activities:
(1) the investigation of organized criminal activities or combined state-federal interstate criminal activities, all general criminal investigations, arson investigation and emergency event management pertaining to explosive devices;
(2) the maintenance and operation of a statewide comprehensive forensic sciences laboratory;
(3) covert investigation of illegal activities pertaining to and the interdiction of narcotics and other illicit substances;
(4) operation and maintenance of a central, statewide criminal justice data base and data communication system;
(5) establishment and operation of highly specialized, tactical response law enforcement units within the division;
(6) operation and regulation of state polygraph examination services;
(7) law enforcement, regulation enforcement, and inspections under Title 61;
(8) the coordination of counter terrorism efforts, including prevention against, preparation for, response to, and crisis management of acts of terrorism, in or affecting this State; coordination of federal grants associated with homeland security; creation of councils appropriate to its mission; and service as the Governor's representative to the United States Department of Homeland Security; and
(9) other activities not inconsistent with the mission of the division or otherwise proscribed by law.
(B) No other state agency or department having personnel who are commissioned law enforcement officers may engage in any of the activities herein set forth without the express permission of the Chief of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. Any state agencies or departments having commissioned law enforcement personnel shall assist the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division at any time the Chief of SLED requests assistance in carrying out the statutory duties of the division.
(C) The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is responsible for the enforcement of all criminal laws, misdemeanors, and felonies, and civil laws, the violation of which may result in a fine or other penalty being assessed against the violator, which laws are now enforced by law enforcement personnel employed by and under the jurisdiction of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission. These civil and criminal laws also include regulations and ordinances pertinent thereto. The duties, functions, and powers of these law enforcement personnel are devolved upon the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and the law enforcement personnel of this agency on the effective date of this section shall perform their duties and functions under the auspices of the division and shall become a part of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division in the manner provided by law.
ARTICLE 5.
MISSING PERSON INFORMATION CENTER
There is created a Missing Person Information Center, hereinafter referred to as MPIC, to be located in Columbia as a part of the State Law Enforcement Division. The purpose of the MPIC is to serve as a central repository for information regarding missing persons and missing and exploited children, with special emphasis on missing children. The MPIC shall utilize the Federal Bureau of Investigation/National Crime Information Center's missing person computerized file through the use of the State Law Enforcement Division's law enforcement communications network. This center is hereinafter referred to as FBI/NCIC.
SECTION 23-3-210. Definitions.
For the purposes of this article:
(1) "Missing child" means any individual who is under the age of seventeen years whose temporary or permanent residence is in South Carolina, or is believed to be in South Carolina, whose location has not been determined, and who has been reported as missing to a law enforcement agency.
(2) "Missing person" means any individual who is seventeen years of age or older, whose temporary or permanent residence is in South Carolina, or is believed to be in South Carolina, whose location has not been determined, and who has been reported as missing to a law enforcement agency.
(3) "Missing person report" is a report prepared on a prescribed form for transmitting information about a missing person or a missing child to a law enforcement agency.
(4) "Exploited children" are children under the age of eighteen who are placed in positions where they were taken advantage of sexually because of their inability to cognitively assess or resist the contact or who were placed into these positions because of their dependency upon the offender.
SECTION 23-3-220. Chief of State Law Enforcement Division, generally; employees.
The MPIC is under the direction of the Chief of the State Law Enforcement Division and may be organized and structured in a manner as the Chief deems appropriate to ensure that the objectives of the MPIC are achieved. The Chief may employ those MPIC personnel as the General Assembly may authorize and provide funding for.
SECTION 23-3-230. Promulgation of regulations.
The MPIC shall promulgate regulations prescribing:
(a) procedures for accepting and disseminating information maintained at the MPIC;
(b) the confidentiality of the data and information, including the missing person report, maintained by the MPIC;
(c) the proper disposition of all obsolete data, including the missing person report; provided, data for an individual who has reached the age of eighteen and remains missing must be preserved;
(d) procedures allowing a communication link with the State Law Enforcement Division and the FBI/NCIC's missing person file to ensure compliance with FBI/NCIC policies;
(e) forms, including but not limited to a missing person report, considered necessary for the efficient and proper operation of the MPIC.
SECTION 23-3-240. Submission of missing person reports to Center.
Any parent, spouse, guardian, legal custodian, or public or private agency or entity may submit a missing person report to the MPIC on any missing child or missing person, regardless of the circumstances, after having first submitted a missing person report on the individual to the law enforcement agency having jurisdiction of the area in which the individual became or is believed to have become missing, regardless of the circumstances.
SECTION 23-3-250. Dissemination of missing persons data by law enforcement agencies.
A law enforcement agency, upon receipt of a missing person report by a parent, spouse, guardian, legal custodian, or public or private agency or entity, shall immediately make arrangements for the entry of data about the missing person or missing child into the national missing persons file in accordance with criteria set forth by the FBI/NCIC, immediately inform all of its on-duty law enforcement officers of the missing person report, initiate a statewide broadcast to all other law enforcement agencies to be on the lookout for the individual, and transmit a copy of the report to the MPIC.
SECTION 23-3-260. Responsibilities of Center.
The MPIC shall:
(a) Assist local law enforcement agencies with entering data about missing persons or missing children into the national missing persons file, ensure that proper entry criteria have been met as set forth by the FBI/NCIC, and confirm entry of the data about the missing persons or missing children.
(b) Utilize both the intrastate communication network and the FBI/NCIC system in locating missing persons or missing children.
(c) Collect, process, maintain, and disseminate information on missing and exploited children or missing persons.
(d) Provide for a centralized distribution center for emergency flyers on missing persons or missing children.
(e) Formulate and distribute, both intrastate and interstate, a monthly bulletin of missing persons and missing children from South Carolina to law enforcement agencies.
(f) Develop, maintain, and disseminate a directory of resources available for assistance to local, state, and federal agencies and entities, public and private organizations, and others in locating a missing person or missing child.
(g) Provide news media, including, but not limited to, television and radio stations and newspapers, with pertinent information on missing persons and missing children on a regularly scheduled basis.
(h) Develop and disseminate recommended procedures and forms for the collection of identifying information, including but not limited to bloodtyping, fingerprinting, and dental charting, which are compatible with criteria established by the FBI/NCIC.
(i) Maintain all available information on any missing person or missing child including, but not limited to, the missing person report, fingerprints, blood types, dental information, and photographs. The identifying information maintained at the MPIC must be kept confidential, except as may be otherwise provided in this article.
(j) Conduct statewide training sessions and seminars relative to missing and exploited children and missing persons, including, but not limited to, methods to enhance the locating of missing children and missing persons and training regarding the operation of the MPIC.
(k) In the case of locating an individual who had previously been reported as being a missing person or missing child, provide referrals for counseling or other assistance or aid to the individual or the individual's family, if the individual or his family desires counseling or other assistance or aid.
(l) Provide a program of support and technical assistance for community-based efforts, especially in the case of children, to prevent disappearances and to ensure self-protection.
SECTION 23-3-270. Notification requirements when missing person located.
Any parent, spouse, guardian, legal custodian, or public or private agency or entity who submits a missing person report to a law enforcement agency or to the MPIC, after having first submitted the missing person report to the appropriate law enforcement agency, shall immediately notify the law enforcement agency and the MPIC of any individual whose location has been determined. The MPIC shall instigate and confirm the deletion of the individual's records from the FBI/NCIC's missing person file, as long as there are no grounds for criminal prosecution, and follow up with the local law enforcement agency having jurisdiction of the records.
SECTION 23-3-280. Release of information.
The following may make inquiries of, and receive data or information from, the MPIC:
(a) Any police, law enforcement, or criminal justice agency investigating a report of a missing or unidentified person or child, whether living or deceased.
(b) A court, upon a finding by the court that access to the data, information, or records of the MPIC may be necessary for the determination of an issue before the court.
(c) Any solicitor of a judicial circuit in this State or the solicitor's designee or representative.
(d) Any person engaged in bona fide research when approved by the Chief; provided, no names or addresses may be supplied to this person.
SECTION 23-3-290. Fees.
The MPIC may not charge any fee for inquiries made to it pursuant to this article.
SECTION 23-3-300. Toll-free phone line; instructions to callers; communication with law enforcement agencies.
The MPIC shall provide a toll-free telephone line for anyone to report the disappearance of any individual or the sighting of any missing child or missing person. MPIC personnel shall instruct the caller, in the case of a report concerning the disappearance of an individual, of the requirements contained in Section 23-3-240 of first having to submit a missing person report on the individual to the law enforcement agency having jurisdiction of the area in which the individual became or is believed to have become missing. Any law enforcement agency may retrieve information imparted to the MPIC by means of this phone line. The MPIC must directly communicate any report of a sighting of a missing person or a missing child to the law enforcement agency having jurisdiction in the area of disappearance or sighting.
SECTION 23-3-310. Improper release of information; penalty.
Any person who knowingly and wilfully releases, or authorizes the release of, any data, information, or records maintained or possessed by the MPIC to any agency, entity, or person other than as specifically permitted by this article or in violation of any regulation promulgated by the MPIC is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be punished by a fine of not less than five hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment of not less than thirty days nor more than ninety days, or both.
SECTION 23-3-320. Missing Person Task Force.
There is created a Missing Person Task Force composed of five members appointed by the Governor. The Governor shall designate a member as chairman. The Task Force shall study information gathered from the MPIC and the FBI/NCIC in order to make long-range plans concerning the gathering, maintaining, and processing of information and data on missing persons and missing children, concerning the effectiveness of efforts to determine the whereabouts of missing persons and missing children through the efforts of the MPIC, and concerning related matters. The Task Force shall submit a written report of its findings and recommendations to the Governor, the Attorney General, and the Joint Legislative Committee on Children on or before July 1, 1986. After submission of this report, the Missing Person Task Force is dissolved. The Task Force may meet as frequently as its chairman or a majority of its members considers necessary. Members of the Task Force are allowed the usual mileage, per diem, and subsistence as provided by law for members of state boards, committees, and commission.
http://www.scstatehouse.gov/CODE/t23c003.htm