Missing Persons Procedures

The following policies regarding Missing Persons are being provided according to requirements of the 2008 Ammendments to the Higher Education Opportunity Act.

Any person (student, staff or faculty) believed to be missing from the campus unexpectedly shall be immediately reported to the Department of Public Safety.

It is the policy of the Mount Holyoke College that the Department of Public Safety will investigate any report of a missing person filed with the office that is filed by someone with knowledge of that student being missing or otherwise not where s/he is expected to be. This report may be filed by a parent/guardian or other family member of the person, by a roommate, a student services or Residential Life staff member (including student staff), Health Services staff member, faculty member, employment supervisor, or anyone else with information that indicates the person is missing.  Public Safety will conduct an initial investigation to determine if the person appears to be missing, or has simply changed her or his routine unexpectedly, and whether or not there is reason to believe the person is endangered. 

Public Safety officers will check student’s login records, class schedules, interview fellow students and faculty, and use other methods to determine the status of a missing person. From this initial investigation, the scope will continue to expand to make attempts to determine the location of the person reported missing to assure  she/he is safe.

Each student at Mount Holyoke College can identify a person that the College can contact in the event that the student is reported missing by by emailing jtripp@mtholyoke.edu in Public Safety. IMPORTANT Include in the email: the person’s name, any contact methods (cell phone, home phone, email, etc.)  This information will soon be collected via ISIS, the college’s student information system.

This person would be contacted within 24 hours of a missing person report being filed with Public Safety. Note that this contact information is confidential and is shared only with College administrators who would have responsibility for making connections with emergency contacts in the event of a determined emergency (such as student services staff, public safety staff, etc.)

Should Public Safety not be able to locate a person reported missing within twenty-four (24) hours  of the report, Public Safety would then notify your designated ‘missing person’ emergency contact.
• In the event that no separate emergency contact is identified, a parent or guardian as listed in college records will be contacted.
• Students should be sure that this contact knows how to reach the student in the case of an emergency, and have a general idea of the student’s general daily routine and any travel plans.
• This person should be someone you trust to aid officers in determining your whereabouts, or verifying that further investigation and/or entry into national missing person databases is warranted.
Public Safety will also notify local law enforcement agencies within this 24 hour window, starting with the town sharing jursidiction with the college, as well as any other agencies where the missing student may be.

NOTE FOR STUDENTS UNDER AGE OF 18 AND NOT EMANCIPATED: For any student under the age of 18 who is not emancipated, the College must notify a custodial parent or guardian no later than 24 hours after the time the student is determined to be missing.For any situation in which a missing person is believed to be endangered, this notification will be made as early as possible while officers are continuing to investigate.

NOTE FOR STUDENTS UNDER AGE OF 21: For students under 21, Suzanne’s Law requires that student to be entered into the national missing person database as soon as it is determined that student is missing.

Should a student be determined to be missing for more than 24 hours, the following will occur:
• Public Safety will notify the Dean of Students
• Public Safety will again contact the student’s emergency contact and/or parent or guardian to update them on information known at that time, efforts made to locate the person, and to get further information that may lead to the location of the missing person. (In the case of a student under 18, the parent or guardian must be contacted regardless of who is listed as the student’s emergency contact.)