Schumer Wants To Close Federal Loophole In Missing Child Cases
MINEOLA, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Sen. Charles Schumer is looking to close a federal loophole that he said hinders the search for missing children.
Schumer's bill, the Bringing Missing Children Home Act, makes several changes to existing rules, which currently prevent local and state law enforcement officials from quickly sharing or updating missing children files.
Schumer Wants To Close Federal Loophole in Missing Child Cases
"It's the federal government screwing up the cooperation among local law enforcement to find missing kids," Schumer said during a news conference Monday on Long Island, where over 1,800 children went missing in 2013. "Why would we want to limit the information that law enforcement has?"
"A child here in Nassau goes missing in Westchester, the Nassau County police cannot input newly discovered information into that child's file without special permission, which is difficult to obtain," Schumer explained. "That's mind-boggling."
Another major part of the bill calls for law enforcement to update the files of missing children with photographs, medical records and dental records within 30 days of the initial report instead of 60.
"It's 35 years after Etan Patz disappeared and we still have progress to make," Schumer said.
The 6-year-old Manhattan boy disappeared on May 25, 1979.
Patz's disappearance prompted changes in the way missing child cases were handled. His photo was among the first to appear on the back of a milk carton and the case turned May 25 into National Missing Children's Day.
In May 2012, police arrested Pedro Hernandez of Maple Shade, N.J. for the killing of Etan Patz.
A judge will decide whether the videotaped confession of the suspect can be used as trial evidence.
In the video, Hernandez tells a story of how he lured the boy from a bus stop and later choked him in the basement of the bodega where he worked.
Hernandez's defense attorney has argued his client made a false confession and that police did not read him his rights until hours after questioning began.
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