PRESS CONFERENCE - Senator James Sanders Jr. to Celebrate Enactment of Missing Adults Law

State Senator James Sanders Jr. (D-Rochdale Village, Far Rockaway) will host a press conference on Monday, November 7, 2016, at 11 a.m. on the steps of New York City Hall with Assembly Member Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn) to celebrate the enactment of the Missing Adults Law they sponsored in the legislature.

The new law requires police to file reports of missing adults. It was signed by Governor Cuomo on September 9, 2016 and will take effect statewide on Tuesday, November 8, 2016 when it will become Section 837-F-2 of the Executive Law.

"This is a tremendous victory for families across the state," Sanders said. "Now when one of our loved ones goes missing, we will have the peace of mind that police will investigate."

The law, signed as Chapter 316 of 2016, will require police to submit reports of missing adults to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database when the adult has a proven disability, may be in physical danger, is missing after a catastrophe, may have disappeared involuntarily or is missing under circumstances where there is a reasonable concern for his or her safety.

Previously, state law only mandated reports of missing children and vulnerable adults.

The act, also known as LaMont Dottin's Law, is named after a 19-year old who disappeared from St. Albans, Queens on October 19, 1995. His mother, Dr. Arnita Fowler, searched for her son for five years, only to discover that he had been found dead six days after she had reported him missing and that he had been buried in an unmarked grave in a potter’s field.

A former version of the bill passed both houses of the legislature in 2015, but was vetoed by the Governor over concerns that it was framed too broadly to comply with the NCIC database. It was rewritten with language mirroring the parameters of the database this year, when it passed the Senate 61-0 and the Assembly 130-12.

Who: NYS Senator James Sanders Jr., Assembly Member Charles Barron, Dr. Arnita Fowler, Missing Persons Advocates
What: Press Conference
Where: Steps of City Hall 
When: Monday, November 7, 2016 at 11 a.m.
Why: To celebrate enactment of Missing Adults Law