MISSING ADULTS NO MORE WAITING

By: C. Harrison/Sept 19, 2016

New York, NY…..Today, is a brand new day where adults who go missing have a chance of being found. Today we are excited to say that Governor Cuomo signed into New York State Law, late Friday, Sept 16, 2016, a Bill S6437A, sponsored by Senator James Sanders (D-Rochdale Village & Far Rockaway). The Bill requires police to file reports of missing adults. State Law previously only mandated reports of missing children and vulnerable adults.

“This is a tremendous victory for families across the state,” “Now when one of our loved ones goes missing, we will have the peace of mind that police will investigate,” said Sanders.

The act known as LaMont Dottin’s Law, is named after a 19-year old who disappeared from St. Albans, Queens on October 19, 1995. His mother Dr. Amita Fowler,  searched for her son for five years, only to discover that he had been found dead six days after she reported him missing and that he had been buried in an unmarked grave in a potter’s field.

The new law, Chapter 316 or 2016, will require police to submit reports of missing adults to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database when the adult has a proven disability, may be in physical danger, is missing after a catastrophe, may have disappeared involuntarily or is missing under circumstances where there is a reasonable concern for his or her safety.

Accordingly, a former version of the Bill, passed both houses of the legislation in 2015, but was voted by the Governor over concerns that it was framed too broadly to comply with the NCIC database. This year,  it was rewritten with language mirroring the parameters of the database, when it passed the Senate 61-0 and the Assembly 130-12.

Assembly member Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn) sponsored the companion Bill A9957.  The Law will take effect on November 8, 2016, when it will become Section 837-F-2 of the Executive Law.