Effective 28 Aug 2004

660.520. State technical assistance team for child sexual abuse cases, duties — counties may develop team, members — availability of records. — 1. There is hereby established in the department of social services a special team, to be known as the "state technical assistance team", to assist in cases of child abuse, child neglect, child sexual abuse, child exploitation, child pornography, or child fatality. It shall be the priority of the team to focus on those cases in which more than one report has been received. The team shall:

(1) Provide assistance, expertise, and training to child protection agencies and multidisciplinary teams for the investigation and prosecution of child abuse, child neglect, child sexual abuse, child exploitation, child pornography, or child fatality cases;

(2) Assist in the investigation of child abuse, child neglect, child sexual abuse, child exploitation, child pornography, or child fatality cases, upon the request of a local, county, state, or federal law enforcement agency, county, state, or federal prosecutor, a representative of the family courts, medical examiner, coroner, juvenile officer, or department of social services staff. Upon being requested to assist in an investigation, the state technical assistance team shall notify appropriate parties specified in this subdivision of the team's involvement. State technical assistance team investigators licensed as peace officers by the director of the department of public safety pursuant to chapter 590 shall be deemed to be peace officers within the state of Missouri while acting in an investigation or on behalf of a child. The power of arrest of a state technical assistance team investigator acting as a peace officer shall be limited to offenses involving child abuse, child neglect, child sexual abuse, child exploitation, child pornography, child fatality, or in situations of imminent danger to the investigator or another person;

(3) Assist county multidisciplinary teams to develop and implement protocols for the investigation and prosecution of child abuse, child neglect, child sexual abuse, child exploitation, child pornography, or child fatality cases.

2. The team may call upon the expertise of the office of the attorney general, the Missouri office of prosecution services, the state highway patrol, the department of health and senior services, the department of mental health or any other agency or institution.

3. Each county may develop a multidisciplinary team for the purpose of determining the appropriate investigative and therapeutic action to be initiated on complaints referenced in subsection 1 of this section reported to the children's division. The multidisciplinary team may include, but is not limited to, a prosecutor, or his or her representative, an investigator from the children's division, a physician, a representative from a mental health care services agency and a representative of the police agency of primary jurisdiction.

4. All reports and records made and maintained by the state technical assistance team or local law enforcement relating to criminal investigations conducted pursuant to this section, including arrests, shall be available in the same manner as law enforcement records, as set forth in sections 610.100 to 610.200, and to the individuals identified in subdivision (13) of subsection 2 of section 210.150. All other records shall be available in the same manner as provided for in section 210.150.

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(L. 1990 H.B. 1370, et al. § 1, A.L. 2000 S.B. 757 & 602, A.L. 2004 H.B. 1055)