Colleges and universities across the state must respond faster to missing students after Gov. Jared Polis signed into law a bill that followed University of Colorado Boulder student Megan Trussell’s death last year.
Under the law signed March 26, institutions of higher education in Colorado will have six hours after first getting word of a missing student to report it to police. The new guideline is meant to mimic how police departments not affiliated with schools act in the hours after taking a report of a missing person, according to State Sen. Janice Marchman, D-Loveland, one of the bill’s sponsors.
Under state law, police departments get eight hours to report a missing adult to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation once they are first reported to the department. Under federal law, universities were given a 24-hour timeline — until now.
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Trussell, 18, was found dead on Feb. 15, 2025, near the 40-mile marker of Boulder Canyon Drive. Her death was twice ruled a suicide. Marchman has said CU Boulder should have responded faster.
The bill also calls for prospective police officers to be trained on the different missing persons alerts Colorado has at its disposal, the bill says.
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