14212
. (a) When any person makes a report of a missing person to a
police department, sheriff's department, district attorney's office,
Department of the California Highway Patrol, or other law enforcement
agency, the agency shall use the Attorney General's form as required
under Section 13519.07. That form shall include a statement
authorizing the release of the dental or skeletal X-rays, or both,
and treatment notes, of the person reported missing and authorizing
the release of a recent photograph of a person reported missing who
is under 18 years of age.
(b) Included with the form shall be instructions which state that
if the person reported missing is still missing 30 days after the
report is made, the release form signed by a member of the family or
next of kin of the missing person shall be taken by the family member
or next of kin to the dentist, physician and surgeon, or medical
facility in order to obtain the release of the dental or skeletal
X-rays, or both, and treatment notes, of that person or may be taken
by a peace officer, if others fail to take action, to secure those
X-rays and treatment notes.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, dental or skeletal
X-rays, or both, and treatment notes, shall be released by the
dentist, physician and surgeon, or medical facility to the person
presenting the request and shall be submitted within 10 days by that
person to the police or sheriff's department or other law enforcement
agency having jurisdiction over the investigation.
(d) When the person reported missing has been determined by the
agency to be an at-risk person, and has not been found within 30
days, the law enforcement agency may execute a written declaration,
stating that an active investigation seeking the location of the
missing person is being conducted, and that the dental or skeletal
X-rays, or both, and treatment notes, are necessary for the exclusive
purpose of furthering the investigation.
(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the written
declaration, signed by a peace officer, is sufficient authority for
the dentist, physician and surgeon, or medical facility to
immediately release the missing person's dental or skeletal X-rays,
or both, or treatment notes.
(f) The Attorney General's office shall code and enter the dental
or skeletal X-rays, or both, into the center's database, which shall
serve as the statewide database for those X-rays, and shall forward
the information to the National Crime Information Center.
(g) When a person reported missing has not been found within 30
days, the sheriff, chief of police, or other law enforcement agency
conducting the investigation for the missing person may confer with
the coroner or medical examiner prior to the preparation of a missing
person report. The coroner or medical examiner shall cooperate with
the law enforcement agency. After conferring with the coroner or
medical examiner, the sheriff, chief of police, or other law
enforcement agency initiating and conducting the investigation for
the missing person may submit a missing person report and the dental
or skeletal X-rays, or both, and photograph received pursuant to
subdivision (a) to the Attorney General's office in a format
acceptable to the Attorney General.
(h) Nothing in this section prohibits a parent or guardian of a
child, reported to a law enforcement agency as missing, from
voluntarily submitting fingerprints, and other documents, to the law
enforcement agency accepting the report for inclusion in the report
which is submitted to the Attorney General.
(i) The requirements imposed by this section on local police and
sheriff's departments shall not be operative if the governing body of
that local agency, by a majority vote of the members of that body,
adopts a resolution expressly making those requirements inoperative.