KRS 16.174: Missing adult notification system -- Kentucky Ashanti Alert System --

Requirements -- Notification by department -- Cooperation by all law

enforcement agencies.

(1) The Department of Kentucky State Police, in cooperation with the Transportatio n

Cabinet, the Division of Emergency Management, and media providers, shall create

and operate a system to notify the public when any individual is determined to be a

missing adult and the department determines that public notification might aid in

the recovery of the individual. The system shall be known as the Kentucky Ashanti

Alert System.

(2) The system shall utilize existing resources, including but not limited to electronic

highway signs, the Amber Alert System, the emergency broadcast system, law

enforcement communications systems, and local, regional, and statewide media

providers, as authorized and under conditions permitted by the federal government.

(3) No public alert using the system shall be issued unless the department, in

consultation with the law enforcement agency in the jurisdiction where the missing

adult was reported, has determined the geographic area in which the notification

shall be made, and has reasonable cause to believe:

(a) That the disappearance of the missing adult may not have been voluntary,

including an abduction or kidnapping, or that the physical safety of the

missing adult may be endangered; and

(b) That public notification is the most appropriate method of recovering the

missing adult in a safe and efficient manner.

(4) If it is determined by the department that public notification shall be initiated, the

department shall notify and provide the public and private agencies and

organizations that will provide the notification with the information that the

department deems necessary.

(5) All law enforcement agencies in the Commonwealth shall cooperate with the

department in the provision and dissemination of information regarding any missing

adult.

(6) No law enforcement agency, other than the department, shall activate the

notification system specified in this section without the authority of the department.

(7) The system shall be operated by all agencies of the Commonwealth within existing

budgetary appropriations.