(a) The commission shall implement by July 1, 1988, a course or courses of instruction for the training of law enforcement officers and law enforcement dispatchers in the handling of missing person and runaway cases and shall also develop guidelines for law enforcement response to missing person and runaway cases. The course or courses of instruction and the guidelines shall include, but not be limited to, timeliness and priority of response, assisting persons who make missing person reports to contact the appropriate law enforcement agency in the jurisdiction of the residence address of the missing person or runaway and the appropriate law enforcement agency in the jurisdiction where the missing person or runaway was last seen, and coordinating law enforcement agencies for the purpose of efficiently and effectively taking and investigating missing person reports.

As used in this section, “law enforcement” includes any officers or employees of a local police or sheriff’s office or of the California Highway Patrol.

(b) The course of basic training for law enforcement officers and law enforcement dispatchers shall, not later than January 1, 1989, include adequate instruction in the handling of missing person and runaway cases developed pursuant to subdivision (a).

(c) All law enforcement officers and law enforcement dispatchers who have received their basic training before January 1, 1989, shall participate in supplementary training on missing person and runaway cases, as prescribed and certified by the commission. The training required by this subdivision shall be completed not later than January 1, 1991.

(Added by Stats. 1987, Ch. 705, Sec. 3.)