This bill creates a missing person alert program called the Amber+ Alert system, the purpose of which is to provide for the rapid dissemination of information and alerts with respect to youth who are between 12 and 25 and reported missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances, reported missing and at risk of harm, or reported missing and developmentally disabled or cognitively impaired.
This bill provides that if a person is reported missing to a law enforcement agency and the agency determines that the requirements of this bill have been met, then the law enforcement agency may request the Tennessee bureau of investigation (TBI) to activate an Amber+ Alert. If the TBI concludes that the requirements of this bill have been met, then the TBI may activate an Amber+ Alert within the appropriate geographical area requested by the law enforcement agency.
This bill encourages radio, television, cable, satellite, and social media systems to cooperate with the dissemination of information contained in an Amber+ Alert. Upon activation of an Amber+ Alert, the TBI may assist the investigating law enforcement agency by issuing a be-on-the-lookout alert, an electronic flyer, or social media alerts, and by providing other available means of assistance.
This bill authorizes a law enforcement agency to request that an Amber+ Alert be activated if (i) the missing person is a youth between 12 and 25; (ii) there is information available that, if disseminated to the public, could assist in the safe recovery of the missing person; and (iii) the agency determines that an Amber+ Alert would be an effective tool in the investigation of a missing youth because of the following:
(A) The missing person suffers from a mental or physical disability;
(B) The person is missing under circumstances that indicate the missing person's physical safety may be endangered or subject to sex trafficking;
(C) The law enforcement agency determines that the person has gone missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances; or
(D) The law enforcement agency believes that the person is in danger because of age, health, mental or physical disability, or environment or weather conditions; that the person is in the company of a potentially dangerous person; or that there are other factors indicating the person may be in peril.
ON APRIL 9, 2024, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 1929, AS AMENDED.
AMENDMENT #1 rewrites the bill to, instead, revise the present law providing that for purposes of any endangered child and young adult alert program implemented by the Tennessee bureau of investigation that is distinct from the America's Missing Broadcast Emergency Response (AMBER) Alert system and that is used to notify local media about a missing child or young adult, along with any additional available information, such program must be applied to a person who is under 21 and who meets the criteria of being endangered, as established or determined by the bureau by, instead, requiring such program to be applied to a person who is under 25 years of age and who meets the criteria of being endangered, as established or determined by the bureau.