35-3-173. Director to be state-wide coordinator for alert system.

The director is the state-wide coordinator of the alert system.#

The director shall adopt rules and issue directives as necessary to ensure proper implementation of the alert system. The rules and directives shall include instructions on the procedures for activating and deactivating the alert system.#

The director shall prescribe forms for use by local law enforcement agencies in requesting activation of the alert system.#

No rule or directive adopted by the director shall mandate a minimum waiting period before the alert system may be activated or a request by local law enforcement agencies may be submitted to the bureau; provided, however, that it shall remain within the discretion of the director, as provided in this article, whether the alert system shall be activated at the request of a local law enforcement agency.#

When making a determination whether to activate or whether to request the activation of a state-wide missing person alert system, both the director and the requesting local law enforcement agency shall take into consideration the known medical condition of the missing person if the medical condition may reasonably be considered a cause for the inability to locate such missing person. In so considering the medical condition of a missing person, particularly if such condition may be immediately life-threatening or incapacitating, the director or other authorized person and the requesting law enforcement official shall be authorized, within his or her discretion, to initiate and request, respectively, a state-wide endangered person advisory.#