New York Missing Children

New York runs its missing child system through two state agencies. The Division of Criminal Justice Services keeps the New York State Missing Persons Clearinghouse, and the New York State Police issues AMBER Alerts with the Division. In New York City the NYPD Missing Persons Squad takes the case, and elsewhere the city, town or village police, the county sheriff or the State Police. In New York, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children can post the case on its national site as well, but only after the police enter it in the FBI's database and the family or the agency gives permission. There is no waiting period.

New York's own history shaped the national rules. Suzanne's Law, the federal requirement that police report a missing person under 21 to the FBI without any waiting period, is named for Suzanne Lyall, a University at Albany student who disappeared in 1998.

Official sources on this page were checked on September 25, 2026.

• NCMEC missing child searchNational search of missing child posters
• Missing children from New York, NCMECNCMEC case search for children missing from New York
• New York Missing and Exploited Children ClearinghouseMissing Children Assistance
• New York Amber Alert Program
• New York Department of Criminal Justice Missing Child College Student Alert SystemAlternative Alert System
• New York Internet Crimes Against Children Task ForceInternet Safety
• Internet Guidelines for Parents
• Online Safety
• Runaway Children Information
• Child Safety Information
• New York Missing Children List
• New York City Police DepartmentNew York Police Department
• Westchester County Department of Public SafetyWestchester Department of Public Safety

New York county sheriffs

The New York State Police activates an AMBER Alert at the request of the investigating agency when a child under 18 has been abducted, is believed to be in danger of serious harm or death, and there is enough information about the child, the abductor or a vehicle to help the public. The alert reaches radio and television through the Emergency Alert System, phones through the wireless emergency alert system, the Thruway and Department of Transportation highway signs, the MTA and the Port Authority. Alerts are shared with New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Massachusetts and with the Canadian border crossings. New York also issues a Missing Child Alert for children whose cases do not meet the abduction standard.

• New York State PoliceAMBER Alert and Missing Child Alert activations
• New York State Missing Persons ClearinghouseThe state clearinghouse in the Division of Criminal Justice Services

The New York State Missing Persons Clearinghouse in the Division of Criminal Justice Services keeps the statewide file of missing children and adults, posts case listings with photos and age progressions, runs the state's missing persons hotline, coordinates with the National Center and NamUs, and helps local agencies with long term cases. Make the report to the local police, the county sheriff or the State Police and write down the case number. Confirm the entry into the National Crime Information Center, then call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which can assign a case manager in New York. In the five boroughs the report goes to the local precinct and the NYPD Missing Persons Squad takes over.

• New York Police DepartmentsCity, town and village police departments and the NYPD
• New York County Sheriff DirectorySheriff offices for the 62 counties
• New York Most WantedFugitives and outstanding warrants

New York issues a Missing Vulnerable Adult Alert for adults with dementia or disabilities and a Missing College Student Alert, created after the Lyall case, for students who vanish from a campus, both through the NY-ALERT system. In New York, the state's Blue Alert covers attacks on law enforcement officers. In New York, the investigating agency keeps the case file. Under New York's Freedom of Information Law, basic case facts are public while investigative records can be withheld while a case is active, and records involving juveniles are confidential. For a case that stays open, the investigating agency can enter it in NamUs, the national missing persons database, where entries are reviewed and published with the agency's approval and can then be searched by anyone.

• NamUsNational database of missing and unidentified persons
• New York Criminal RecordsCriminal history and court records in New York

• National Center for Missing & Exploited ChildrenMissing child posters, reports and the CyberTipline
• AMBER Alert, U.S. Department of JusticeHow AMBER Alerts work and who issues them
• NISMART, national studies of missing childrenDepartment of Justice research on missing children