Bill to train volunteers searching for missing persons gains momentum
Elinor Smith
HELENA (UM Legislative News Service) — House Bill 18, which would set up and use state money to fund a grant program to train volunteers searching for missing persons, advanced through the House Judiciary Committee Thursday on a unanimous vote.
The bill now moves on to the full House for debate. If passed through the House and Senate, the grant program would be run by the Department of Justice and provide training for local community-led teams to help look for missing persons. It comes with a price tag for $61,000 from the state’s general fund.
Rep. Neil Duram, R-Eureka, voted for the bill on Thursday in committee.
“I think it's important to note, you know, we create a mental image that a missing person, you know, is a youth at risk. And yet, the reality is there's a variety of reasons why a person could become missing. And, I suspect that it's the search and rescue teams of our area that find many of them,” Duram said.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Tyson Running Wolf, D-Browning, said according to a 2017 report from the Department of Justice on Montana’s response to missing and endangered persons cases, the state is lacking in two main fields-- a lack of public awareness and a lack of consistent training for local law enforcement and the public.
The committee advanced HB 18 the same day the Billings Gazette reported that the Yellowstone County sheriff was asking the public for assistance in finding missing Billings woman, Rachelle Burgess. Burgess was found safe later that day.
Also on Thursday, a joint resolution to conduct a study on missing youth in Montana was introduced in the House Judiciary Committee. According to the resolution, 80% of missing persons in Montana are under the age of 18. The study would be aimed at figuring out why.
Elinor Smith is a reporter with the UM Legislative News Service, a partnership of the University of Montana School of Journalism, the Montana Broadcasters Association, the Montana Newspaper Association and the Greater Montana Foundation.