Missing Person Policy

Policy Number: #

Responsible Executive(s):

  • Provost

Responsible Office(s):

  • Campus Safety and Dean of Students

Date Adopted: 07-14-2026

Date Revised: 08-18-2026

A. Purpose

This policy establishes procedures for responding to reports of missing students and other missing persons associated with Regis University. The policy is intended to promote an immediate, coordinated, documented, and good-faith institutional response and to comply with the Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act (Clery Act), including Missing Student Notification requirements for students residing in on-campus student housing, Colorado Senate Bill 26-120, and other applicable law.

B. Scope

This policy applies to:

  1. Campus Safety, Housing and Residence Life, Student Affairs, the Dean of Students Office, designated Campus Security Authorities (CSAs), and other University officials having responsibility for student or campus activities.
  2. Students residing in on-campus student housing.
  3. All enrolled students. The statutory requirements of Colorado Senate Bill 26-120 apply when a person reports that a student attending the University, who was last known to reside in Colorado, is missing or cannot be located.
  4. Employees, visitors, and other persons on University property when circumstances warrant an institutional response.

Certain requirements concerning confidential Missing Person Contacts, notification of custodial parents or guardians, and annual disclosure apply specifically to students residing in on-campus student housing. The University may apply protective measures more broadly when appropriate.

C. The Policy

1. General Response and Reporting

Regis University takes all reports of a missing persons seriously and will respond immediately upon receiving a report that a person may be missing. No waiting period is required before a report may be made to Campus Safety or law enforcement. A report may be made by a student, family member, legal guardian, faculty member, staff member, friend, law enforcement agency, or any other concerned person.

Any University official who receives a report that a student may be missing shall immediately notify Campus Safety at 303-458-4122 and provide all reasonably available information. Campus Safety shall immediately escalate the report to the Campus Safety supervisor or designee responsible for initiating the Preliminary Wellness Assessment. At least one category of authorized Campus Safety personnel shall be available outside regular business hours to initiate the assessment and conduct or coordinate a Residential Verification.

When a report presents an immediate safety concern, threat of harm, indication of criminal activity, medical emergency, or other urgent circumstance, Campus Safety shall notify law enforcement immediately and shall not delay notification to complete assessment steps.

Upon receipt of a report concerning a student who was last known to reside in Colorado, the University shall take one of the following actions:

  1. Immediately notify the appropriate law enforcement agency without conducting a Preliminary Wellness Assessment; or
  2. Immediately initiate a Preliminary Wellness Assessment and complete the required actions within the six-hour period measured from the time the University received the report.

Campus Safety is responsible for evaluating the report, assessing risk, initiating and coordinating the University response, determining whether a student is missing for purposes of this policy, and coordinating required notifications.

If at any time the University determines that credible evidence indicates a risk to the student's safety, Campus Safety shall immediately notify the appropriate law enforcement agency. The University shall not wait for the six-hour period to expire or for the Preliminary Wellness Assessment to be completed.

2. Receipt and Initial Documentation

The employee receiving the report shall immediately provide Campus Safety with all reasonably available information, including:

  1. The name and contact information of the reporting person;
  2. The student's name and student identification number, if known;
  3. The date and time the report was received;
  4. The student's last known location and last known contact;
  5. The circumstances giving rise to the concern and any immediate safety concerns;
  6. The student's current local address and permanent address, if known; and
  7. Whether law enforcement has already been contacted.

Campus Safety shall contemporaneously document the date and time the report was received and the name and role of the employee who received it. The six-hour statutory period begins at the time the University receives the report.

3. Preliminary Wellness Assessment

If the University does not immediately notify law enforcement in lieu of an assessment, Campus Safety shall immediately initiate a documented Preliminary Wellness Assessment. The assessment shall be conducted in good faith and shall include, at minimum, the following steps. These steps may be conducted simultaneously when appropriate.

    1. Digital Contact Attempt
      The University shall attempt to contact the student through all institution-provided communications available to the University, including institutional email, the student portal system, and personal contact information provided by the student for emergency-notification purposes. The date, time, method, and outcome of each contact attempt shall be documented.
    2. Residential Verification
      If the student resides in institution-controlled housing, an authorized Campus Safety employee or agent shall conduct or coordinate a physical check of the student's assigned residence. Authorized personnel include Campus Safety officers or supervisors and, when acting at the direction of Campus Safety, designated Housing and Residence Life personnel. Campus Safety personnel are available outside regular business hours.

      The verification may include a visit to the assigned residence, coordination with Housing and Residence Life, inquiry of available residential staff or roommates, and review of available housing-access information when authorized and reasonably necessary.

      If the student resides off campus, Campus Safety shall determine whether verification should be referred to the law enforcement agency having jurisdiction over the residence. Nothing in this policy authorizes University personnel to enter an off-campus residence without lawful authority or valid consent.

    3. Academic and Social Inquiry
      The University shall query available faculty members and residential staff about the student's most recently known attendance. The inquiry shall be limited to information reasonably necessary to determine the student's location.
    4. Additional Assessment Steps
      When authorized by law and reasonably necessary, Campus Safety may review available institutional information that may assist in locating the student, including class participation, residence-hall access information, campus identification-card activity, meal-plan activity, parking information, student-employment attendance, athletic participation, video surveillance from campus security cameras and student-organization participation. Access to and use of records shall be limited to individuals with an institutional need to know.

4. Six-Hour Actions and Law Enforcement Notification

If the University conducts a Preliminary Wellness Assessment and does not locate the student within six hours after the University received the report, Campus Safety shall, at the expiration of the six-hour period:

  1. Notify the University's police department; or
  2. If the University does not have its own police department, notify the nearest law enforcement agency having jurisdiction over the student's current local address on file with the University or, if no current local address is on file, the student's permanent address on file with the University.
  3. Conduct an Emergency Contact Attempt using the emergency contact information in the student's official institutional record.

If the University does not conduct a Preliminary Wellness Assessment, it shall immediately make the law enforcement notification described above. If the appropriate law enforcement agency already received the report or made the missing-person determination, Campus Safety shall document that fact and coordinate further action with the agency.

5. Missing Student Notifications for Students Residing in On-Campus Housing

Missing Student Notification requirements contained in this section apply only to students residing in on-campus student housing facilities as required by federal law. Students residing in on-campus student housing shall be informed annually that they may designate one or more confidential Missing Person Contacts to be notified if the student is determined to be missing. A Missing Person Contact may be different from the student's general Emergency Contact.

Missing Person Contact information shall be maintained confidentially, shall be accessible only to authorized University officials, and may be disclosed only to law enforcement personnel in furtherance of a missing-person investigation or as otherwise permitted by law.

When a student residing in on-campus student housing is determined to be missing, the University shall:

  1. Notify the student's designated Missing Person Contact, if any, within six hours after the University received the report and in all events within 24 hours after the student is determined to be missing. For purposes of Clery Act compliance, the University shall complete all required Missing Student notifications no later than 24 hours after the student is determined to be missing.
  2. If the student is under 18 years of age and not emancipated, notify the student's custodial parent or guardian, in addition to any designated Missing Person Contact, within the same period; and
  3. Notify the appropriate law enforcement agency within six hours after the University received the report and in all events within 24 hours after the student is determined to be missing, unless the law enforcement agency was the entity that made the determination.

Law enforcement notification is required regardless of whether the residential student designated a Missing Person Contact, is 18 years of age or older, or is an emancipated minor.

6. Circumstances Beyond the University's Reasonable Control

The University shall act in good faith and take all steps reasonably available under the circumstances. Circumstances beyond the University's reasonable control may include:

  1. The unavailability of faculty or staff outside regular business hours;
  2. The student's residence being located off campus or outside the University's physical jurisdiction;
  3. An incorrect, disconnected, or unanswered emergency contact;
  4. An incorrect or outdated address or contact method; or
  5. Another unforeseeable situation, or a situation to which the University is unable to respond adequately.

The inability to complete an assessment step does not extend the six-hour period or delay required law enforcement notification. Campus Safety shall document the reason each required step was not completed.

7. Documentation and Recordkeeping

Campus Safety shall maintain contemporaneous written documentation of the Preliminary Wellness Assessment, including:

  1. The date and time the missing-person report was received and the name and role of the employee who received it;
  2. The date, time, method, and outcome of each contact attempt;
  3. The name and role of each University employee or agent who participated in the assessment;
  4. The reason any required step was not completed within the six-hour period, if applicable;
  5. The date and time the missing-person report was made to the University police department or nearest law enforcement agency;
  6. The date and time the student was determined to be missing and the name or title of the official making the determination;
  7. The date, time, method, and outcome of each Emergency Contact or Missing Person Contact attempt; and
  8. The date, time, and circumstances under which the student was located, if known.

The University shall retain the records required by Colorado law for at least three years after the University received the missing-person report. The records shall be available to a law enforcement agency upon request.

If the student has not been located within 30 days after the University received the report, the University shall make the required assessment records available upon request, consistent with applicable federal and state student privacy laws, to the person designated as the student's Emergency Contact in the official institutional record. The disclosure shall be made solely to inform the Emergency Contact of the University's efforts to locate the student.

The University shall identify its approved Campus Safety incident-report system, or another formally approved case-management system, as the recordkeeping system for documentation required under this policy and shall maintain the documentation in accordance with University records-retention requirements.

8. Disclosure of Information

Information obtained, accessed, used, or disclosed as part of a Preliminary Wellness Assessment or missing-person response shall be limited to information reasonably necessary to locate the student, protect the student's safety, make required notifications, or assist law enforcement. Information disclosed as part of the assessment shall not be used for any other purpose.

The University shall make disclosures consistent with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and applicable state student privacy laws. The University may rely on an applicable health or safety emergency exception or another lawful basis for disclosure when the requirements of that exception or basis are satisfied.

9. Public Availability, Annual Notice, and Review

The University shall:

  1. Make this Preliminary Wellness Assessment and Missing Person Policy publicly available on the University's Campus Safety webpage;
  2. Inform students residing in on-campus student housing annually of the opportunity to designate a confidential Missing Person Contact;
  3. Include the required Missing Student Notification policy and procedures in the University's Annual Security and Fire Safety Report; and
  4. Review and update this policy at least once every three years and when changes in applicable law require revision.

10. Responsibilities

  1. Campus Safety
    1. Receive and document reports;
    2. Assess immediate risk;
    3. Initiate and coordinate the Preliminary Wellness Assessment;
    4. Determine whether a student is missing;
    5. Make or coordinate required law enforcement and contact notifications;
    6. Maintain contemporaneous documentation and required records; and
    7. Coordinate with the Dean of Students and other University offices.
  2. Dean of Students
    1. Support academic and social inquiries;
    2. Coordinate appropriate outreach by University offices;
    3. Assist Campus Safety with information and student-support resources; and
    4. Coordinate appropriate support when a student is located.
  3. Housing and Residence Life
    1. Assist with Residential Verification for students in on-campus housing;
    2. Provide relevant residential information consistent with law;
    3. Administer the annual Missing Person Contact designation process in coordination with appropriate University offices; and
    4. Protect the confidentiality of Missing Person Contact information.
  4. University Officials

    Any University official receiving a report that a student may be missing shall immediately notify Campus Safety and shall not independently delay, close, or resolve the report without coordination with Campus Safety.

D. Definitions

  1. Academic and Social Inquiry - A query by the University of available faculty members and residential staff about the student's most recently known attendance, limited to information reasonably necessary to determine the student's location.
  2. Circumstances Beyond the University's Reasonable Control - An unforeseeable situation, or a situation to which the University is unable to respond adequately, including the unavailability of faculty or staff outside regular business hours, a residence located off campus or outside the University's physical jurisdiction, or an incorrect, disconnected, or unanswered Emergency Contact.
  3. Credible Evidence of Risk - Information or circumstances that cause Campus Safety reasonably to determine that the student may face a risk to the student's safety. When credible evidence of risk exists, immediate law enforcement notification is required.
  4. Digital Contact Attempt - An attempt by the University to contact the student through all institution-provided communications available to the University, including institutional email, the student portal system, and personal contact information provided for emergency-notification purposes.
  5. Emergency Contact - The person listed in the student's official institutional record as the student's emergency contact. An Emergency Contact is distinct from a Missing Person Contact unless the student designates the same person for both purposes.
  6. Emergency Contact Attempt - An attempt by the University to reach the student's Emergency Contact listed in the student's official institutional record.
  7. Missing Person Contact - A person confidentially designated by a student residing in on-campus student housing to be notified if the student is determined to be missing.
  8. Missing Student - A student whose whereabouts are unknown and whom the University, after considering the report and reasonably available information, determines cannot presently be located and requires further action to determine the student's location or protect the student's safety. A determination does not require that the student have been absent for a minimum period, that immediate danger or criminal activity be established, or that all Preliminary Wellness Assessment steps be completed.
  9. Official - A person who has the authority and duty to take action or respond to particular issues on behalf of the University.
  10. Preliminary Wellness Assessment - The documented, good-faith process conducted after receipt of a missing-student report. It includes, at minimum, a Digital Contact Attempt, a Residential Verification if the University has institution-controlled housing, and an Academic and Social Inquiry.
  11. Regular Business Hours - The hours during which the University's administrative offices are regularly open for business, as published in the University's official academic calendar.
  12. Residential Verification - A physical check of a student's residence when the student resides in institution-controlled housing, conducted by an authorized representative identified in this policy.

E. Related Policies, Procedures, Forms and Other Resources

  • Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act
  • 34 C.F.R. § 668.46(h)
  • Colorado Senate Bill 26-120, Missing Person Training and Higher Education Reporting
  • Regis University Annual Security and Fire Safety Report
  • Regis University Missing Student Response and Preliminary Wellness Assessment Protocol
  • Regis University FERPA Policy
  • Applicable University records-retention requirements

F. End Notes

This policy and the University's Preliminary Wellness Assessment protocols shall be publicly available on the University's Campus Safety webpage. The corresponding Missing Student Notification statement shall be included in the University's Annual Security and Fire Safety Report.

The University shall review and update this policy when applicable state or federal law changes and at least once every three years.