SB 26-120

Senate Bill 26-120, which has been signed into law, requires police officers in Colorado to receive training on missing person alerts. It also mandates that colleges and universities conduct a wellness check for up to six hours if a student is reported missing or immediately contact local law enforcement if there's any risk to the student’s safety. This bill affects both peace officers seeking certification and higher education institutions, ensuring better protocols are in place to handle cases of missing students. Since it has been signed into law, these requirements are now enforceable rules that institutions and police departments must follow.

Official Summary

The act requires a person seeking certification or recertification from the peace officers standards and training board to undergo training on various missing person alerts active within the state. The department of public safety is required to create a missing person alert training program for persons seeking certification or recertification of their peace officer status.     The act requires an institution of higher education (institution) to either conduct a preliminary wellness assessment for no longer than 6 hours or immediately contact a law enforcement agency if a student is reported missing. If the student is not found within the 6-hour period, or if there is evidence of a credible risk to the student's safety, the institution shall notify the institution's police department or the nearest law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the student's current local address on file with the institution or the student's permanent address on file with the institution if the institution does not have its own police department.     An institution is required to adopt and publish a preliminary wellness assessment policy. The preliminary wellness assessment must consist of at least the following steps: A digital contact attempt, a residential verification, and an academic and social inquiry. An institution that conducts a preliminary wellness assessment is immune from civil liability if the institution acted in good faith. An institution is required to maintain contemporaneous written documentation regarding the steps the institution took to complete the preliminary wellness assessment. The records are subject to certain disclosure requirements.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

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