Norcross, Fitzpatrick Announce Bipartisan Child Safety Legislation
InsiderNJ.com
August 8, 2019
U.S. Congressmen Donald Norcross (D-NJ-01) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA-01) introduced the National Child Identification Act, H.R. 4172, which aids law enforcement by encouraging parents and guardians to proactively collect and store their children’s sensitive identification information at home. When DNA samples are stored safely at home, law enforcement officers can spend the crucial first hours during a missing-person case searching for the child, rather than searching for the child’s DNA samples.
“In America, one child goes missing every forty seconds. As a father and grandfather, that’s an unsettling statistic,” said Congressman Norcross. “We need to have smart, pre-emptive policies in place that best support law enforcement, and that’s why Congressman Fitzpatrick and I are introducing this common-sense bill to provide millions of parents and guardians with a way to be proactive in case the unthinkable happens. No one wants precious police time wasted searching for a fingerprint instead of for a missing child.”
“As a former FBI agent, I understand that when a child goes missing, every second counts in the search to bring them home,” said Congressman Fitzpatrick. “Having the necessary DNA samples ready on standby allows law enforcement to spend their time tracking down a child’s location, not their fingerprints. I am proud to introduce this legislation with Congressman Norcross to give parents and law enforcement the tools they need to protect our nation’s kids.”
The National Child Identification Act helps expand upon an existing initiative that provides child identification kits to parents and guardians. Under the Act, grant funding from the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 could be used to provide for the kits. Additionally, the Act helps law enforcement by ensuring parents have a child’s identification information immediately available for investigators.