Sponsor Statement for HB 267

Police communication with domestic violence shelters

This legislation seeks to establish a means of communication between domestic violence shelter providers and police officials who are conducting a missing persons investigation. It is necessary for a domestic violence shelter to be able to inform the police that a person is not missing.

Communication is needed to prevent unnecessary expenditure of limited resources, the extensinve publication of the person's name and photograph in local media, and the placement of search and rescue workers at risk. The police are quite capeable of withholding infomation from a spouse, if they know of the possibility of a domestic violence parameter in the incident.