§578. Functions, powers, and duties of the bureau; crime laboratory

A. The bureau shall perform the following functions:

(1) To establish and maintain a central repository of criminal history record information and to adopt regulations and procedures to prescribe the terms and conditions under which the Department of Insurance, section on fraud, and the Department of Revenue, office of alcohol and tobacco control, shall have direct access to this information and adopt regulations and procedures to prescribe the terms and conditions under which other eligible individuals or agencies may gain access to such information.

(2) To establish and implement a uniform system for reporting criminal history record information from any state or local criminal justice agency.

(3) To adopt and promulgate regulations to protect the privacy and security of criminal history record information exchanged with the bureau by any state or local criminal justice agency.

(4) To establish, maintain, and regulate a modern system of telecommunication and data processing for the efficient collection, storage, and rapid transmission of criminal history record information and relevant statistics maintained by the bureau. To serve qualified agencies concerned with the administration of criminal justice throughout the state.

(5) To establish a system of fingerprint identification and analysis for use in the maintenance of criminal history record information; to aid in official investigations by eligible agencies; and to establish identification where authorized by law.

(6) REPEALED BY ACTS 1993, NO. 678, §2, EFF. JUNE 21, 1993.

(7) To establish and maintain a central registry of sex offenders and to adopt regulations and procedures to prescribe the terms and conditions under which information shall be released in accordance with the provisions of R.S. 15:540 through 549.

(8) To automate the criminal histories of all persons treated in the forensic conditional release program as well as all persons committed as not guilty by reason of insanity or unrestorably incompetent to stand trial pursuant to Chapters 1 and 2 of Title XXI of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and to establish an "alert flag" on criminal information records of such persons which would appear on state police computer records, as follows:

"This subject is under the supervision of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, division of probation and parole, pursuant to a conditional release order from the district court. If in your custody, contact the division of probation and parole immediately."

B. Upon request the bureau shall assist any sheriff, chief police officer, or any governmental unit to do the following:

(1) Establish local identification and records systems.

(2) Investigate the circumstances of any crime and the identification, apprehension, and conviction of the perpetrator or perpetrators of any crime, and for this purpose may detail any employee or employees of the bureau for any length of time the deputy secretary may deem fit.

(3) Without request the deputy secretary shall, at the direction of the governor, detail any employee or employees, for any length of time which the governor may deem fit, to investigate any crime within the state for the purpose of identifying, apprehending, and convicting the perpetrator or perpetrators.

C. For the purpose of expediting local, state, national, and international efforts in the detection and apprehension of criminals, the bureau may operate and coordinate all communication systems which may be required in the normal conduct of its duties.

D. The Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Criminal Justice shall be assigned the functions, powers, and duties of the bureau related to the gathering and dissemination of data concerning parish prison population statistics and uniform crime reports. Any assignment shall relieve the bureau of responsibility for such responsibilities and duties.

E. Upon written request, the bureau shall provide specified criminal history information to the Department of Children and Family Services to provide for the well-being of children, as provided in R.S. 15:587.1.

F. Upon written request, the bureau shall provide mental health agencies providing treatment and supervision to patients pursuant to Chapters 1 and 2 of Title XXI of the Code of Criminal Procedure with access to criminal histories with all case disposition data. Treatment and supervision staff who have access to these criminal histories shall maintain the confidentiality of this information and shall sign a statement, to be developed by the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, which informs them of this obligation.

Acts 1981, No. 449, §1, eff. July 1, 1981; Acts 1984, No. 772, §1; Acts 1986, No. 760, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1987; Acts 1987, No. 735, §1; Acts 1989, No. 194, §2; Acts 1991, No. 509, §1; Acts 1992, No. 388, §2, eff. June 18, 1992; Acts 1993, No. 678, §2, eff. June 21, 1993; Acts 1994, 3rd Ex. Sess., No. 50, §1; Acts 1995, No. 800, §2; Acts 1995, No. 1188, §1, eff. June 29, 1995; Acts 1997, No. 658, §2; Acts 1997, No. 1187, §2.