Virginia Code 52-34.3:3: Activation of the Virginia Critical Operation for a Disappeared Child Initiative (Codi) Alert Program upon incident of a missing or endangered child
A. Upon receipt of a notice of a missing or endangered child from a law-enforcement agency, the Virginia State Police shall confirm the accuracy of the information and provide assistance in the implementation of the Codi Alert Program as the investigation dictates.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 52-34.3:3
- Codi Agreement: means the voluntary agreement between law-enforcement officials and members of the media whereby a child will be declared missing or endangered 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 52-34.3:1
- Codi Alert: means the notice of a missing or endangered child provided to the public by the media or other methods under a Codi Agreement. See Virginia Code 52-34.3:1
- Media: means print, radio, television, and Internet-based communication systems or other methods of communicating information to the public. See Virginia Code 52-34.3:1
- Missing or endangered child: means a child (i) who is 17 years of age or younger or is currently enrolled in a secondary school in the Commonwealth, regardless of age; (ii) whose whereabouts are unknown; and (iii) whose disappearance is under suspicious circumstances or 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 52-34.3:1
- Program: means the procedures and Codi Agreements to aid in the identification and location of missing or endangered children. See Virginia Code 52-34.3:1
- 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. Codi Alerts may be local, regional, or statewide. The initial decision to make a local or regional Codi Alert shall be at the discretion of the local or regional law-enforcement officials. Prior to making a local or regional Codi Alert, the local or regional law-enforcement officials shall confer with the Virginia State Police and provide information regarding the missing or endangered child to the Virginia State Police. The initial decision to make a statewide Codi 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 a missing or endangered child.
C. In those situations where appropriate, the Virginia State Police shall send the Codi Alert to Virginia’s emergency alert system. Participating media are encouraged to issue the Codi Alert at designated intervals as specified by the Codi 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 missing or endangered 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 Codi Alert shall include such information as the law-enforcement agency deems appropriate that will assist in the safe recovery of the missing or endangered child.
F. The Codi Alert shall be canceled under the terms of the Codi Agreement. Any local law-enforcement agency that locates a child who is the subject of a Codi Alert shall notify the Virginia State Police immediately that the child has been located.