The group was formed in January.
DeWine has already ordered several agencies to carry out these recommendations, including automating notification of law enforcement agencies of Endangered Missing Child Alerts, creating a best practices guide on interacting with families of missing persons, expanding the Ohio Prisoner Extradition Reimbursement Program, and continued professional training for the healthcare industry on law enforcement exemptions to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, commonly known as HIPAA.
Credit: Bryant Billing
Credit: Bryant Billing
Additionally, several state agencies that work with children and mental health have been directed to work with local law enforcement to develop a pilot program for advocates to support at-risk youth who regularly leave their homes or group home settings.
âThousands of children and adults are reported missing each year, and although most are located quickly, some simply vanish, leaving anguished families behind and adding to law enforcementâs growing caseload,â DeWine said. âThe goal of this working group was to identify what more we could do as a state to help law enforcement bring more missing people home and support family members during a time of great despair.â
Other recommendations were made to the Ohio Attorney Generalâs Bureau of Criminal Investigation, whose Missing Persons Unit is the state authority on missing persons investigations, according to the Governorâs office.
Suggestions for BCI include the creation of a central repository of resources for families and investigators, the launch of an annual missing persons conference, and the establishment of a confidential forum for law enforcement to discuss investigative techniques and perform case reviews.
âA great ideaâ
House Minority Leader Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington, told reporters Wednesday that she supports the task force findings and deferred to her colleague Rep. Christine Cockley, D-Columbus, who joint sponsors a bipartisan bill that would require all Ohio law enforcement to upload missing personsâ information into a national database within 30 days of a report.
âWe think itâs a great idea, (Cockley) is certainly supportive of it and we have legislation in this space to address these missing person cases,â Russo said.
House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, said heâd like to take time to review the task forceâs recommendations, but said it should be something the legislature could get done before lawmakers go on summer recess.
âI think we could probably get that done by June 30. So, I think weâll take the recommendations, see what that looks like, and try to get that done,â he said.