ATLANTA — Several state representatives want to create a new alert system for when a Georgian with autism spectrum disorder goes missing.
According to the proposed Autism Missing Person Alert System Act, lawmakers want to create the new alert system to make a statewide system specifically for helping find missing individuals with autism.
The text of House Bill 465 says that it would help local law enforcement agencies find autistic Georgians sooner when they are missing, even if the individual who is missing has difficulties with social interaction and challenges to communication, which the bill calls characteristics of the disorder.
HB 465 also says that activating the Autism Missing Person Alert System would not “prevent or prohibit any other state or local law enforcement agency from taking additional measures in response to the receipt of a missing person report.”
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Should the bill pass, the alert system would not have a mandatory minimum waiting period before an alert can be activated.
The legislation also would allow system staff who manage the alert system to “recruit public and commercial television, radio, cable, print and other media,” in addition to private businesses and other governmental entities to help implement and develop the alert system.
Bill text says that means state officials could enter into agreements with participants to ensure the alert system has the support it would need to function.
Additionally, the alerts could be activated for searches smaller than a statewide area, if the alert system director “determines that the nature of the event makes it probable that the individual with autism spectrum disorder did not leave a certain geographic location.”
Before asking to activate the alert system, HB 465 says local law enforcement officers and agencies must verify that the provision’s criteria are met and assess the appropriate boundaries of the alert, dependent on the individual and the circumstances of their disappearance.
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