West Virginia Code 49-6-106 – Missing child reports; law-enforcement agency requirements; unidentified bodies
(a) A law-enforcement agency, upon receiving a missing child or missing and endangered child report, shall:
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 49-6-106
- child: means an individual who meets one of the following conditions:
(A) Is under thirteen years of age. See West Virginia Code 49-1-202
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
(1) Start an investigation to determine the present location of the child if it determines that the child is in danger; and
(2) Enter the name of the missing child or missing and endangered child into the clearinghouse and the National Crime Information Center missing person file if the child meets the center’s criteria, with all available identifying features, including dental records, fingerprints, other physical characteristics, and a description of the clothing worn when the missing child or missing and endangered child was last seen.
(b) Information not immediately available shall be obtained as soon as possible by the law-enforcement agency and entered into the clearinghouse and the National Crime Information Center file as a supplement to the original entry.
(c) All West Virginia law-enforcement agencies shall enter information about all unidentified bodies of children found in their jurisdiction into the clearinghouse and the National Crime Information Center unidentified person file, including all available identifying features of the body and a description of the clothing found on the body. If an information entry into the National Crime Information Center file results in an automatic entry of the information into the clearinghouse, the law-enforcement agency is not required to make a direct entry of that information into the clearinghouse.
(d) A law-enforcement agency, upon receiving a missing and endangered child report, shall immediately:
(1) Start an investigation to determine the present location of the child if it determines that the child is missing and endangered; and
(2) Issue a Missing and Endangered Child Advisory pursuant to § 15-3D-9 of this code.