Missing Persons

EMERGENCIES - MISSING PERSONS

OVERVIEW

Discusses procedures for handling missing persons incidents.

FORMS USED

None

CODES, REGULATIONS, AND DISTRICT POLICIES RELATED TO THIS PROCEDURE

None

PRIMARY STAKEHOLDERS

Risk Management

Public Safety

Evening Division and Night Administrators

COMMENTS

Missing person classifications result from incidents such as undiscovered injury or death, getting locked in an enclosure, kidnapping, undergoing disability-related distress or persons with mental retardation who leave guardians unnoticed.

Special care must be taken if the individual is a young child, mentally disabled, or known to be ill. In this situation, Public Safety should be called without delay so that search operations can begin immediately.

The Department of Public Safety must be notified for all emergency situations. They will call 911 and will escort emergency response units to the last known location of the missing person. Public Safety is open 24 hours and can be reached on campus by dialing "#1" from public telephones equipped with speed dialing. There is one speed dial phone per phone cluster. On non-speed dial phones, use extension #654 for Grossmont and extension #456 for Cuyamaca. If "911" is utilized instead, and Public Safety is consequently not notified, emergency response units may not know how to find the emergency site.

STEP	TASK PERFORMED BY	DESCRIPTION
1	Faculty, Staff and Students	Conduct Area Search Upon discovering or suspecting that a person is "missing," immediately conduct a thorough search of the facility and surrounding grounds and buildings. This check should include such locations as restrooms, lounges, closets, etc. If appropriate, make phone calls to the person's home or other probable location in an effort to locate the individual. If the missing person is either very young or mentally disabled, and is missing at a facility such as the bookstore, student center, or Learning Resource Center, immediately post staff at all exits and attempt to locate the missing person by questioning all departing persons. Search the interior of the facility.

2	Faculty, Staff and Students	Call Campus Police Contact the campus police immediately if any kind of criminal activity is suspected, or if the missing person is very young, known to be sick, or mentally disabled. Otherwise, contact campus police at the point where it is more reasonable to assume that the person is truly missing and not just at an unknown location. Dept of Public Safety Phone Numbers (open 24 hrs): Grossmont: Ext. 7654 Cuyamaca: Ext. 4456 "#1" from college speed dialing public phones

3	Faculty, Staff and Students	Gather Information for Police Report Be prepared to give the following information to the campus Police: Name, sex and age of missing person Time discovered missing Where person was last seen Physical description (height, weight, race, hair color, eye color, clothing description) Any known physical impairments and any known critical medications Known mental condition Any other special circumstances Photo Name and phone number of friends and relatives
4	Public Safety Dispatcher	Contact Police Department and Dispatch Security Officers Notify the senior College Police officer on duty. If directed, contact the appropriate police department (El Cajon Police Department or San Diego County Sheriff.) Send security officers to conduct a preliminary search.

5	Senior College Police Officer	Coordinate Search Effort Establish communications with the senior administrator in charge. Coordinate the overall search effort.

6	Senior Administrator on Duty	Request Outside Police Assistance If necessary, direct Public Safety to get outside police/sheriff assistance.

7	Public Safety	Provide Assistance as Required Assist the police/sheriff in the search as required.

8	Public Information	Coordinate Press Communications Field media calls. Prepare and follow up with press releases or fact sheets as necessary. Provide necessary facts or information to media or to designated District spokesperson.