West Virginia Code § 15-3D-4

Missing persons complaints; law-enforcement procedures
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(a) Complaint requirements. — A person may file a missing persons complaint with any law-
enforcement agency having jurisdiction. The law-enforcement agency shall attempt to collect
the following information from a complainant and, as soon as thereafter as is practicable,
shall then furnish the information to the West Virginia State Police:
(1) The missing person's name;
(2) The missing person's date of birth;
(3) The missing person's address;
(4) The missing person's identifying characteristics, including, but not limited to:
Birthmarks, moles, tattoos, scars, height, weight, gendaer, race, current hair color, natural
hair color, eye color, prosthetics, surgical implants, cosmetic implants, physical anomalies,
and blood type; l
(5) A description of the clothing the missing person was believed to have been wearing when
he or she went missing and any items that might be with the missing person, such as
jewelry, accessories, shoes, or any other distinguishing garments or items;
(6) The date of the last known contact with the missing person;
(7) The missing person's driver's license and Social Security number, or any other numbers
related to other forms oLf identification;
(8) A recent photograph of the missing person;
(9) Information related to the missing person's electronic communication devices or
electronic accounts, such as cell phone numbers, social networking login information, and
emaWil addresses and login information;
(10) Any circumstances that the complainant believes may explain why the person is
missing;
(11) The name and location of the missing person's school or employer;
(12) The name and location of the missing person's dentist or primary care physician;
(13) A description of the missing person's possible means of transportation, including make,
model, color, license, and identification number of a vehicle;
(14) Any identifying information related to a known or possible abductor, or the person last
seen with the missing person, including the person's name, physical description, date of
birth, identifying physical marks, a description of the person's possible means of
transportation, including the make, model, color, license, and identification number of the
person's vehicle, and any known associates;
(15) The name of the complainant and his or her relationship to the missing person; and
(16) Any additional information considered relevant by either the complainant or the law-
enforcement agency.
(b) Upon receipt of the information required by subsection (a) of this section, the State
Police shall monitor and assist in the investigation or, if the available evidence supports a
conclusion that the missing person may have left the county fromu which he or she went
missing, or at the request of the lead law-enforcement agency, the State Police shall
supervise the investigation.
(c) High-risk determination; requirements. — a
(1) Upon initial receipt of a missing persons reportl, the lead law-enforcement agency shall
immediately assess whether facts or circumstances indicate that the person meets any of the
following risk indicators, which, if applicable, will be entered into NCIC:
(A) The person is or was likely involved in a natural disaster;
(B) The person is a juvenile, or was a juvenile when he or she went missing;
(C) The person is likely endangered;
(D) The person has mental or physical disabilities;
(E) The disappearance is believed to have been the result of abduction or kidnapping, or was
otherwise involuntary;
(F) WThe person is 75 years of age or older;
(G) The person is under the age of 21 and declared emancipated by the laws of his or her
state of residence; and
(H) None of the criteria in paragraphs (A) through (F), inclusive, of this subdivision apply,
but additional facts support a reasonable concern for the person's safety.
(2) If, upon assessment, the lead law-enforcement agency determines that the missing
person meets one of the classifications in subdivision (1) of this subsection, the lead law-
enforcement agency shall:
(A) Immediately notify the terminal operator responsible for WEAPON system entries for the
law-enforcement agency and provide the operator with all relevant information collected
from the missing persons complainant as soon as possible. The terminal operator will enter
all information into the WEAPON system and submit the information to the West Virginia
State Police communications section. If the law-enforcement agency does not have an
agreement with a local terminal agency, then the law-enforcement agency will contact the
West Virginia State Police terminal agency for that particular area and request that the West
Virginia State Police enter the information into the WEAPON system. Once the missing
persons complaint has been entered into the WEAPON system, the West Virginia State
Police communications section shall immediately notify all law-enforcemente agencies within
the state and surrounding region by means of the WEAPON system with all information that
will promote efforts to promptly locate and safely recover the missing prerson. Local law-
enforcement agencies that receive the notification of a missing persons shall notify all
officers to be on the lookout for the missing person or a suspected abductor; and
(B) Immediately, and no later than two hours, after the detertmination that a juvenile is
missing, take appropriate steps to ensure that the case is entered into the NCIC database
with a photograph and other applicable information related to that missing person.
(d) General requirements. —
(1) The lead law-enforcement agency shall take appropriate steps to ensure that all relevant
information related to a missing persons complaint is submitted in a timely manner to the
WEAPON system, and as applicable,g NCIC, CODIS, NDIS, NamUs, and NCMEC. Any
information that the West Virginia State Police obtains from these databases must be
provided to the lead law-enforecement agency and to other law-enforcement agencies who
may come in contact with or be involved in the investigation or location of a missing person.
(2) The lead law-enforcement agency or the West Virginia State Police shall submit any
available DNA profiles that may aid in a missing persons investigation and that have not
already been submitted by a medical examiner into appropriate DNA databases, including,
but not limited to, NamUs.
(e) WRemoval upon location of person. — Upon the determination that the person is no longer
missing, the lead law-enforcement agency or the West Virginia State Police shall
immediately remove or request the removal of all records of the missing person from all
missing persons databases.

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