Virginia Code 52-34.3: Activation of Amber Alert Program upon an incident of child abduction
A. Upon receipt of a notice of a child abduction from a law-enforcement agency, the Virginia State Police shall confirm the accuracy of the information and provide assistance in the implementation of the Amber Alert Program as the investigation dictates.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 52-34.3
- Abducted child: means a child (i) whose whereabouts are unknown, (ii) who is believed to have been abducted, (iii) who is 17 years of age or younger or is currently enrolled in a secondary school in the Commonwealth, regardless of age, and (iv) whose disappearance poses a credible threat as determined by law enforcement to the safety and health of the child and under such other circumstances as deemed appropriate by the Virginia State Police. See Virginia Code 52-34.1
- Amber Agreement: means the voluntary agreement between law-enforcement officials and members of the media whereby a child will be declared abducted, and the public will be notified, and includes all other incidental conditions of the partnership as found appropriate by the Virginia State Police. See Virginia Code 52-34.1
- Amber Alert: means the notice of child abduction provided to the public by the media or other methods under an Amber Agreement. See Virginia Code 52-34.1
- Media: means print, radio, television, and Internet-based communication systems or other methods of communicating information to the public. See Virginia Code 52-34.1
- Program: means the procedures and Amber Agreements to aid in the identification and location of abducted children. See Virginia Code 52-34.1
- 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. Amber Alerts may be local, regional, or statewide. The initial decision to make a local or regional Amber Alert shall be at the discretion of the local or regional law-enforcement officials. Prior to making a local or regional Amber Alert, the local or regional law-enforcement officials shall confer with the Virginia State Police and provide information regarding the abducted child to the Virginia State Police. The initial decision to make a statewide Amber Alert shall be at the discretion of the Virginia State Police. The Missing Children Information Clearinghouse operated by the Virginia State Police shall serve as a central repository for information related to an abduction.
C. In those situations where appropriate, the Virginia State Police shall send the Amber Alert to Virginia’s emergency alert system. Participating media are encouraged to issue the alert at designated intervals as specified by the Amber Alert Program.
D. In those situations where appropriate and an existing system is available, the Virginia State Police shall contact the operator of the existing automatic dialing-announcing device system to target residents in the geographic location where the abducted child was most recently seen. For purposes of this section, “automatic dialing-announcing device system” means a device that (i) selects and dials telephone numbers; and (ii) working alone or in conjunction with other equipment, disseminates a prerecorded or synthesized voice message to the telephone number called.
E. The Amber Alert shall include such information as the law-enforcement agency deems appropriate that will assist in the safe recovery of the abducted child.
F. The Amber Alert shall be cancelled under the terms of the Amber Agreement. Any local law-enforcement agency that locates a child who is the subject of an alert shall notify the Virginia State Police immediately that the child has been located.