"Hailey's Law" goes into effect across Missouri

JEFFERSON CITY – A new law aimed at helping Missouri law enforcement rescue abducted children more efficiently went into effect on Wednesday.

The bill commonly known as “Hailey’s Law” comes nearly five years after the bill’s namesake, 10-year-old Hailey Owens, was abducted, raped and killed in Springfield.

The bill’s original sponsor, State Rep. Curtis Trent, R-Springfield, said the new law will shorten the gap between the decision to issue an Amber Alert and the time the alert is actually sent out.

“The law requires the complete digital integration of the systems police officers use in the course of their daily work and the Amber Alert System,” Trent said. “Now a police officer who wishes to issue an Amber Alert can do so seamlessly from the console they are used to working with.”

Previously, local law enforcement agencies had to send a form to the Missouri State Highway Patrol in order for an alert to be sent out to the public. Trent said shortening the amount of time it takes to issue alerts is crucial to the rescue of a missing child.

“Statistics show that time is critical when you have a situation where a person is missing and has potentially been kidnapped,” he said. “The faster you can recover the person, the more likely you are going to have a good outcome in that case.”

In addition to integrating Amber Alert System into the Missouri Uniform Law Enforcement System (MULES), the law will also require the Amber Alert System Oversight Committee to meet annually.

Trent said that in many cases, years would pass between meetings, which does not allow for enough oversight over a process that should be “up-to-date” and “cutting edge.”

“The reason for this is because technology is always changing,” he said.

“There are always updates to systems. There is always a continual learning process as systems are implemented. We want the oversight board to be able to catch potential flaws in the system or ways to make the system better and not wait for an error or problem to occur.”

Missouri State Highway Patrol Captain John Hotz also said state law enforcement is “always looking for ways to make it possible to get information relayed as quickly as possible.”

Both Trent and Hotz said finding new types of technologies and updated processes are among a few of the ways law enforcement can continue to make alerts more efficient.

Hotz said the MSHP plans to release methods for “better uses of [current] technology” next month.