Daily Herald opinion: Before the case grows cold: New law should help identify and find missing persons while trail is warm

The best solution to a so-called “cold case” investigation is, of course, to avoid letting the evidence trail for identifying a potential victim grow cold in the first place. A new Illinois law won’t provide that solution in every circumstance, but it certainly will help move investigations in that direction.

In their Cops & Crime column last Friday, our Charles Keeshan and Susan Sarkauskas, described the “Missing Persons Identification Act,” signed into law last month by Gov. JB Pritzker, mandating new policies that could help authorities track down individuals while the trail is still warm enough to find them.

Sen. Michael Hastings, a Tinley Park Democrat who sponsored the bill, says the law, “will increase the likelihood of someone missing being found or identified.” And Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, who championed the legislation, said its requirements will help agencies coordinate searches, as well as ensure that authorities employ the best investigative technologies available.

“When all agencies are following the same practices regarding missing persons cases, and are entering information in a timely manner, that can aid in finding someone quicker,” Dart told our reporters in an email.

One of the most conspicuous features of the new law is a requirement that police take a report immediately and enter information into a statewide law enforcement database when someone reports a person missing. While it is true that the overwhelming number of people reported missing — some 80% to 90%, depending on age and other criteria — are found or returned within 24 hours, it is also true that for the remaining 10% to 20%, the first 72 hours of an investigation are critical, especially when the person is a child or vulnerable adult.

So it is important not only that people who are worried about the whereabouts of a loved one contact authorities promptly but also that authorities get into action immediately as well.

The new law gives clear guidance to police on how quickly they should respond.

It also requires that fingerprint records be submitted to all local, state and national systems, not just to local criminal databases. And when 60 days go by without a solution, the law requires police to submit photographs, fingerprint and dental records and other biometric data to the federal National Missing and Unidentified Persons System. When even those measures don’t work, missing persons cases must remain active until the person returns or is located.

It is devastating for families and friends when a loved one cannot be located, and police departments that assign officers — or, in agencies such as Elgin’s, a dedicated unit — to investigating cold cases provide a valuable service that periodically we’ve seen bring a sense of closure or even, in happier cases, reunite a missing person with those who have been waiting and praying. No doubt, such efforts must continue and we’ll continue to come across occasional stories about individuals whose cases are solved long after they have faded from the public’s attention.

But thanks to Illinois’ new law, there may be fewer opportunities for such stories, and more situations added to those happy statistics on missing people who are found promptly.