2023 New York Laws › EXC - Executive › Article 35 - Division of Criminal Justice Services › 838 - Identification of Unknown Dead and Missing Persons.

§ 838. Identification  of  unknown  dead and missing persons. 1. Every
county medical examiner and coroner shall promptly furnish the  division
and  the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System created by the
Office of Justice Program's National Institute of Justice,  with  copies
of  fingerprints  on  standardized  eight inch by eight inch fingerprint
cards or the equivalent digital image, personal descriptions  and  other
identifying  data,  including  date  and place of death, of all deceased
persons whose deaths are in a classification requiring  inquiry  by  the
medical  examiner or coroner where the deceased is not identified or the
medical examiner  or  coroner  is  not  satisfied  with  the  decedent's
identification.  The  division  shall  promptly  make available personal
descriptions and other identifying data, including  date  and  place  of
death,  of  such deceased persons to all law enforcement agencies in the
state, and upon request, to law  enforcement  agencies  outside  of  the
state.
2.  In  any case where it is not physically possible to furnish prints
of the ten fingers of the deceased, prints  or  partial  prints  of  any
fingers  with  other  identifying  data shall be forwarded by the county
medical examiner or coroner to the division.
3. In addition to the foregoing provisions of this section, the county
medical examiner or coroner shall cause a dentist authorized to practice
pursuant to article one hundred thirty-three of the education law  or  a
dental  student  in  a  registered  school of dentistry in this state to
carry out a dental examination of the deceased. The medical examiner  or
coroner  shall forward the dental examination records to the division on
a form supplied by the division for that purpose.
4. The division shall  compare  the  fingerprints  received  from  the
county  medical  examiners  or coroners to fingerprints on file with the
division for purposes of attempting to determine  the  identity  of  the
deceased.    Other descriptive data supplied with the fingerprints shall
also be compared  to  records  maintained  by  the  division  concerning
missing   persons.   The  division  shall  submit  the  results  of  the
comparisons to the appropriate medical examiner  or  coroner  and  if  a
tentative  or  positive  identification  is made, to the law enforcement
authority which submitted the report of the missing person.
5. (a) (i) When any person makes a report of a missing person to a law
enforcement authority, the authority  shall  request  a  member  of  the
family  or next of kin of the missing person to authorize the release to
the division of the dental records of the person reported  missing.  The
release  shall  be  on  a  form  supplied by the division. If the person
reported missing is still missing thirty days after the report is  made,
the  law  enforcement authority shall deliver the release to the dentist
or dentists of the missing person, and request the dentist  or  dentists
to deliver such records, including dental x-rays, to the division within
ten days. The form of such request shall also include means by which the
law  enforcement  authority  shall  be  notified of the delivery of such
records.
(ii) When the person reported missing has not been found within thirty
days and no family or next of kin exists or  can  be  located,  the  law
enforcement authority may execute a written declaration, stating that an
active investigation seeking the location of the missing person is being
conducted,  and  that the dental records are necessary for the exclusive
purpose of  furthering  the  investigation.  Such  written  declaration,
signed  by  a  peace officer, is sufficient authority for the dentist or
dentists to release  the  missing  person's  dental  records,  including
dental x-rays, to the division.
(b)  Upon  receipt  of  a  properly  executed  release  and request or
declaration, the dentist or dentists shall forward the  dental  records,

including  dental  x-rays,  to  the  division,  where  a  file  shall be
maintained concerning persons reported to it as missing and who have not
been reported to it as found. The file shall contain dental records  and
such other information as the division finds to be relevant to assisting
in the location of a missing person. The law enforcement authority shall
be notified of the delivery of such records.
6.  The  division  shall  compare the dental records received from the
county medical examiners  or  coroners  to  dental  records  of  missing
persons on file with the division. The division shall submit the results
of  the comparison to the appropriate medical examiner or coroner and if
a tentative or positive identification is made, to the  law  enforcement
authority which submitted the report of the missing person.
7.  (a)  When a person previously reported missing has been found, the
superintendent of state police, sheriff, chief  of  police,  coroner  or
medical  examiner,  or  other  law enforcement authority shall erase all
records with respect to such person and/or destroy any  documents  which
are maintained pursuant to this section and shall report to the division
that  the  person has been found and that the records and documents have
been so erased or destroyed. After receiving such a report, the division
shall erase all records with respect to such person and/or  destroy  any
documents which are maintained pursuant to this section.
(b) Nothing in paragraph (a) of this subdivision shall be construed as
prohibiting   law  enforcement  agencies  from  maintaining  case  files
relating to vulnerable adults,  as  defined  in  section  eight  hundred
thirty-seven-f-one,  who  were reported missing, provided, however, that
any DNA, fingerprints and/or dental records acquired in  the  course  of
such  investigation  shall be erased and/or destroyed in accordance with
paragraph (a) of this subdivision after the person  previously  reported
missing has been found.
(c)  (i)  Notwithstanding  the  provisions  of  paragraph  (a) of this
subdivision, if a vulnerable adult, as defined in section eight  hundred
thirty-seven-f-one of this article, previously reported missing has been
found,  the division shall maintain a sealed record of the case file for
a period of ten years, after which it shall be erased and/or  destroyed.
The sealed record shall be unsealed if the individual to whom the record
pertains  is  reported missing on a subsequent occasion or if needed for
evidentiary purposes in any civil litigation against the division or its
personnel that arises from the investigation. However, in the event that
there are grounds for a criminal action arising from the  investigation,
nothing  in  this  subdivision  shall  be interpreted as prohibiting the
division from allowing  such  records  to  remain  unsealed  until  such
criminal action is concluded or otherwise resolved.
(ii)  The  division  shall establish rules and regulations relating to
the unsealing of records. Such rules and regulations shall require that,
pursuant to subparagraph (i) of this paragraph, the process of unsealing
such records shall take no longer than  two  hours  from  the  time  the
division  receives a report that a vulnerable adult, for whom there is a
previous record, is missing.
8. The information contained in the division's  missing  person  files
shall  be made available by it to law enforcement agencies attempting to
locate missing persons.
9. Notwithstanding any other provision of  law,  no  criminal  justice
agency  shall  establish  or  maintain  any  policy  which  requires the
observance of a waiting period  before  accepting  and  investigating  a
missing  child  report.  Upon  receipt  of  a report of a missing child,
criminal justice agencies shall make  entries  of  such  report  to  the
register  in the manner provided by section eight hundred thirty-seven-e
of this article.
10. Notwithstanding any other provision of law,  no  criminal  justice
agency  shall  establish  or  maintain  any  policy  that  requires  the
observance of a waiting period  before  accepting  and  investigating  a
report of a missing vulnerable adult as defined in section eight hundred
thirty-seven-f-one  of  this  article.  Upon receipt of a report of such
missing vulnerable adult, criminal justice agencies shall  make  entries
of  such  report  in  the  manner provided by subdivision eleven of this
section.
11. Whenever a criminal justice agency determines that a person  is  a
missing   vulnerable   adult,   as  defined  in  section  eight  hundred
thirty-seven-f-one of this  article,  or  that  an  unidentified  living
person  may  be a missing vulnerable adult, such criminal justice agency
shall enter the report of such missing vulnerable adult in any  database
of   missing   persons  maintained  by  the  division  and  the  federal
government.