1. REQUIREMENT
Under the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, all Colleges must have in place policies and procedures for handling missing students and persons.
2. DEFINITION
A missing student means any student of an institution who resides in a facility owned or operated by such institution and who is reported to such institution as missing from his or her residence. Warren County Community College does not own or operate resident facilities. As such this policy refers to a situation where a member of the College community seeks to report a missing person to the College for investigative purposes.
3. PROCEDURES
Anyone seeking to report a missing person should be directed to the Coordinator of Public Safety.
Once a missing person is reported, the Coordinator of Public Safety will undertake the following:
4. FERPA COMPLIANCE
Information sharing with police on missing persons will follow guidelines established under the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
5. COMMUNICATIONS
In cases involving missing persons, law enforcement personnel are best situated to provide information to the media that is designed to elicit public assistance in the search for a missing person. Therefore, all communications regarding missing students will be handled by outside law enforcement.