Public Act 095-0192
HB0194 Enrolled LRB095 04211 RLC 24251 b
AN ACT concerning missing persons. (continued)
Section 20. Unidentified persons or human remains
identification responsibilities.
(a) If the official with custody of human remains is not a
coroner or medical examiner, the official shall immediately
notify the coroner or medical examiner of the county in which
the remains were found. The coroner or medical examiner shall
go to the scene and take charge of the remains.
(b) Notwithstanding any other action deemed appropriate
for the handling of the human remains, the medical examiner or
coroner shall make reasonable attempts to promptly identify
human remains. These actions may include but are not limited to
obtaining:
(1) photographs of the human remains (prior to an
autopsy);
(2) dental or skeletal X-rays;
(3) photographs of items found with the human remains;
(4) fingerprints from the remains, if possible;
(5) samples of tissue suitable for DNA typing, if
possible;
(6) samples of whole bone or hair suitable for DNA
typing, or both;
(7) any other information that may support
identification efforts.
(c) No medical examiner or coroner or any other person
shall dispose of, or engage in actions that will materially
affect the unidentified human remains before the medical
examiner or coroner obtains:
(1) samples suitable for DNA identification,
archiving;
(2) photographs of the unidentified person or human
remains; and
(3) all other appropriate steps for identification
have been exhausted.
(d) Cremation of unidentified human remains is prohibited.
(e) The medical examiner or coroner or the Department of
State Police shall make reasonable efforts to obtain prompt DNA
analysis of biological samples if the human remains have not
been identified by other means within 30 days.
(f) The medical examiner or coroner or the Department of
State Police shall seek support from appropriate State and
federal agencies for human remains identification efforts.
This support may include, but is not limited to, available
mitochondrial or nuclear DNA testing, federal grants for DNA
testing, or federal grants for crime laboratory or medical
examiner or coroner's office improvement.
(g) The Department of State Police shall promptly enter
information in federal and State databases that may aid in the
identification of human remains. Information shall be entered
into federal databases as follows:
(1) information for the National Crime Information
Center shall be entered within 72 hours;
(2) DNA profiles and information shall be entered into
the National DNA Index System (NDIS) within 5 business days
after the completion of the DNA analysis and procedures
necessary for the entry of the DNA profile; and
(3) information sought by the Violent Criminal
Apprehension Program database shall be entered as soon as
practicable.
(h) If the Department of State Police does not input the
data directly into the federal databases, the Department of
State Police shall consult with the medical examiner or
coroner's office to ensure appropriate training of the data
entry personnel and the establishment of a quality assurance
protocol for ensuring the ongoing quality of data entered in
the federal and State databases.
(i) Nothing in this Act shall be interpreted to preclude
any medical examiner or coroner's office, the Department of
State Police, or a local law enforcement agency from pursuing
other efforts to identify unidentified human remains including
efforts to publicize information, descriptions, or photographs
that may aid in the identification of the unidentified remains,
allow family members to identify the missing person, and seek
to protect the dignity of the missing person.
Section 95. The Department of State Police Law of the Civil
Administrative Code of Illinois is amended by changing Section
2605-375 as follows:
(20 ILCS 2605/2605-375) (was 20 ILCS 2605/55a in part)
Sec. 2605-375. Missing persons; Law Enforcement Agencies
Data System (LEADS).
(a) To establish and maintain a statewide Law Enforcement
Agencies Data System (LEADS) for the purpose of providing
electronic access by authorized entities to criminal justice
data repositories and effecting an immediate law enforcement
response to reports of missing persons, including lost, missing
or runaway minors and missing endangered seniors. The
Department shall implement an automatic data exchange system to
compile, to maintain, and to make available to other law
enforcement agencies for immediate dissemination data that can
assist appropriate agencies in recovering missing persons and
provide access by authorized entities to various data
repositories available through LEADS for criminal justice and
related purposes. To assist the Department in this effort,
funds may be appropriated from the LEADS Maintenance Fund.
(b) In exercising its duties under this Section, the
Department shall provide a uniform reporting format (LEADS) for
the entry of pertinent information regarding the report of a missing person into LEADS. The report must include all of the following:
(1) Relevant information obtained from the
notification concerning the missing person, including all
of the following:
(A) a physical description of the missing
person;
(B) the date, time, and place that the missing
person was last seen; and
(C) the missing person's address.
(2) Information gathered by a preliminary
investigation, if one was made.
(3) A statement by the law enforcement officer in
charge stating the officer's assessment of the case based
on the evidence and information received.
(b-5) The Department of State Police shall:
(1) Develop and implement a policy whereby a
statewide or regional alert would be used in situations
relating to the disappearances of individuals, based on
criteria and in a format established by the Department.
Such a format shall include, but not be limited to, the age
of the missing person and the suspected circumstance of the
disappearance.
(2) Notify all law enforcement agencies that
reports of missing persons shall be entered as soon as the
minimum level of data specified by the Department is
available to the reporting agency and that no waiting
period for the entry of the data exists.
(3) Compile and retain information regarding lost,
abducted, missing, or runaway minors in a separate data
file, in a manner that allows that information to be used
by law enforcement and other agencies deemed appropriate by
the Director, for investigative purposes. The information
shall include the disposition of all reported lost,
abducted, missing, or runaway minor cases.
(4) Compile and maintain an historic data
repository relating to lost, abducted, missing, or runaway
minors and other missing persons, including, but not
limited to, missing endangered seniors, in order to develop
and improve techniques utilized by law enforcement
agencies when responding to reports of missing persons.
(5) Create a quality control program regarding
confirmation of missing person data, timeliness of entries
of missing person reports into LEADS, and performance
audits of all entering agencies.
(d) The Department of State Police shall perform the duties
prescribed in the Missing Persons Identification Act, subject
to appropriation.
(Source: P.A. 94-145, eff. 1-1-06.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law. Effective Date: 8/16/2007
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