Virginia Code 52-34.12: Activation of Critically Missing Adult Alert Program upon an incident of a critically missing adult
A. Upon receipt of a notice of a critically missing adult from a law-enforcement agency, the Virginia State Police shall confirm the accuracy of the information and provide assistance in the activation of the Critically Missing Adult Alert Program as the investigation dictates.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 52-34.12
- Adult: means a person 18 years of age or more. See Virginia Code 1-203
- Critically missing adult: means an adult, including an adult who has a developmental disability, intellectual disability, or mental illness as those terms are defined in § 37. See Virginia Code 52-34.10
- Critically missing adult alert: means the notice of a critically missing adult provided to the public by the media or other methods under a Critically Missing Adult Alert Agreement. See Virginia Code 52-34.10
- Critically Missing Adult Alert Agreement: means a voluntary agreement between law-enforcement officials and members of the media whereby an adult will be declared missing, and the public will be notified by media outlets, and includes all other incidental conditions of the partnership as found appropriate by the Virginia State Police. See Virginia Code 52-34.10
- State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
B. Critically Missing Adult Alerts may be local, regional, or statewide. The initial decision to make a local Critically Missing Adult Alert shall be at the discretion of the local law-enforcement official. Prior to making a local Critically Missing Adult Alert, the local law-enforcement official shall confer with the Virginia State Police and provide information regarding the critically missing adult to the Virginia State Police. The decision to make a regional or statewide Critically Missing Adult Alert shall be at the discretion of the Virginia State Police.
C. The Critically Missing Adult Alert shall include the critically missing adult information as defined in § 15.2-1718.2 and any other such information as the law-enforcement agency deems appropriate that will assist in the safe recovery of the critically missing adult.
D. The Critically Missing Adult Alert shall be cancelled under the terms of the Critically Missing Adult Alert Agreement. Any local law-enforcement agency that locates a critically missing adult who is the subject of an alert shall notify the Virginia State Police immediately that the critically missing adult has been located.
2018, c. 397.