NY Lawmakers Pass Law Expediting Body Recovery

ALBANY

The New York state Senate joined the Assembly in passing a law in memory of Reb Menachem Stark, Hy”d, to ensure the speedy identification of a recovered body in case of a tragic event.

The “Expedited Missing Persons Act” was introduced after the Jan. 3 tragedy, when it took law enforcement officials in Nassau County hours to inform other agencies that the body was found, even as a search was ongoing in nearby Brooklyn.

“Excruciating hours passed… [before] the authorities realized that the unidentified body in Nassau County” was the victim, Rabbi Moshe Dovid Niederman, head of the United Jewish Federation of Williamsburg, said in a statement.

Lawmakers Joe Lentol in the Assembly and Daniel Squadron and Simcha Felder in the Senate were lead sponsors of the measure. It now heads to Gov. Andrew Cuomo for signing.

If signed into law, police would be required to make available fingerprints “of deceased persons to all law enforcement agencies in the state, and upon request, to law enforcement agencies outside of the state.”

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