Title 44, Title 44

(1) A peace officer may not engage in racial profiling. (2) The race or ethnicity of an individual may not be the sole factor in: (a) determining the existence of probable cause to take into custody or arrest an individual; or (b) constituting a particularized suspicion that an o…

The department of justice shall cooperate with and assist sheriffs, chiefs of police, and other law enforcement officers in the establishment of a complete state system of criminal identification.

The department shall assist and, when practicable, instruct sheriffs, chiefs of police, and other law enforcement officers in establishing efficient local bureaus of identification in their districts and in making them proficient in procuring and maintaining fingerprint records.

The department shall report to the attorney general the failure of any officer to provide information as required by law. After an investigation of the report, the attorney general may order the proper disbursing officer to withhold payment of the salary of the officer who failed…

The department shall cooperate with identification bureaus in other states and with the federal bureau of investigation to develop and carry on a complete interstate and international system of criminal identification and investigation.

(1) The attorney general is authorized to establish a criminal justice information network for the purpose of connecting federal, state, county, and city law enforcement agencies. The attorney general may bring into the network, if the parties desire, any department of Montana st…

In order to operate the criminal justice information network, the attorney general, within the framework of any funds budgeted or collected from participating agencies, is authorized to: (1) purchase, lease, or otherwise acquire facilities and equipment necessary to accomplish th…

The attorney general shall contact federal law enforcement agencies or officials regarding cost sharing in the criminal justice information network. If federal funds are available, the attorney general may enter into cost-sharing agreements with the federal agencies. If federal f…

The attorney general shall submit, as a part of the information required by 17-7-111, a detailed report covering the operations of the criminal justice information network, the accounting of all money received and expended, and the need to expand or improve the network.

Any county, city, or other law enforcement agency may, with the approval of the attorney general, connect to the criminal justice information network and participate in it upon payment of or agreement to pay the costs established by the department of justice.

The attorney general may establish an operational charge for the criminal justice information network, exclusive of personnel services. The charge must be prorated among the various agencies using the network.

With the exception of federal agencies that require quarterly billing, the charge authorized in 44-2-312 must be billed annually to the agencies. Payments made as a result of the billing must be remitted to the attorney general and deposited in a special revenue account in the st…

The state treasurer may draw warrants on the account provided for in 44-2-313 upon request of the attorney general when money is needed to pay any of the costs of keeping the criminal justice information network operational. A strict accounting must be kept of all receipts and di…

Law enforcement agencies, other than the state of Montana or any of its subdivisions, that become 120 days delinquent in payment of any fees approved and assessed must be notified that they will be removed from the criminal justice information network, and the department of justi…

(1) Any person who reports a missing person to a police department, sheriff's office, or other law enforcement authority must be given a form, supplied by the department of justice, that authorizes the release of the dental records of the missing person. The form must state that …

(1) If the coroner cannot identify a body, the coroner or the state medical examiner must have a dentist examine the body, and if the body cannot be identified from the dental examination, the coroner or state medical examiner shall send the dental examination results to the depa…

(1) The department of justice may assist with the investigation of all missing persons cases, regardless of the age of the missing person, in accordance with part 5 and this part. (2) (a) The department shall employ a missing persons specialist responsible for working closely wit…

(1) All law enforcement authorities in the state shall accept, without delay, any report of a missing person unless there are extenuating circumstances, including: (a) the law enforcement authority knows the location of the person reported missing; (b) the law enforcement authori…

(Temporary) Missing and murdered indigenous persons advisory council account -- audit. (1) There is a missing and murdered indigenous persons advisory council account in the state special revenue fund established in 17-2-102. The account is administered by the department of justi…

(Temporary) Missing and murdered indigenous persons advisory council -- membership -- duties -- reporting. (1) There is a missing and murdered indigenous persons advisory council. The advisory council is allocated to the department of justice for staffing services and administrat…

(Temporary) Looping in native communities network grant program. (1) There is a looping in native communities network grant program. The program is established to create a network in support of efforts by Montana tribes to identify, report, and find Native American persons who ar…

(Temporary) Looping in native communities network state special revenue account. There is a looping in native communities network account within the state special revenue fund established in 17-2-102. The purpose of the account is to provide matching funds to tribal agencies to i…

(1) There is a missing persons response team training grant program administered by the department of justice. The purpose of the grant program is to help fund training opportunities for community-based missing persons response teams. (2) Eligible teams may be multiagency and mul…

(1) There is a missing persons response team training grant account in the state special revenue fund established in 17-2-102. The account is administered by the department of justice. (2) Money transferred from any lawful source, including but not limited to gifts, grants, donat…

This part may be cited as the "Missing Children Act of 1985".

(1) As used in this part, the following definitions apply: (a) "Missing child" means any person who has been reported as missing to a law enforcement authority and: (i) who is under 21 years of age; (ii) whose temporary or permanent residence is in Montana or is believed to be in…

(1) The department of justice shall establish a missing children information program to create a central repository to aid in the location of missing children in Montana. (2) The missing children information program shall: (a) establish a system of intrastate communication of inf…

(1) All law enforcement authorities in the state shall submit information regarding a missing child to the missing children information program provided for in 44-2-503. (2) Any parent, guardian, or legal custodian may submit a missing child report to the missing children informa…

Whenever a parent, guardian, or legal custodian of a child files a report with a law enforcement authority that the child is missing, the law enforcement authority shall within 2 hours of the report: (1) inform all on-duty law enforcement officers of the existence of the missing …

(1) The superintendent of public instruction shall assist the missing children information program provided for in 44-2-503 in identifying and locating missing children who are enrolled in Montana public school districts in kindergarten through grade 12 by: (a) collecting each mo…

The trustees of any elementary or high school district shall establish procedures to be followed by school personnel for attempting to contact by the end of a school day any parent, guardian, or legal custodian whose child is absent from school but who has not reported the child …

(1) When a child enrolls in a school district for the first time, the school district shall: (a) require that the child's parent, guardian, or legal custodian present to the school, within 40 days of enrollment, proof of identity of the child; and (b) request the appropriate scho…

(1) The notice required by subsection (2) must be given if: (a) a person committed to a hospital or mental health facility under Title 46, chapter 14, escapes or is released from confinement; (b) a person confined in an institution other than a jail pending or during trial for a …

(1) There is a state alert system known as the blue alert program within the department of justice. (2) Upon request by a law enforcement agency, the department may activate the blue alert program if the department determines that: (a) (i) a peace officer has been killed or serio…