West Virginia Code § 24-6-13

Confidentiality of certain calls to county answering points and records;
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retention of records.
(a) Except as provided by the provisions of this section, calls for emergency service to a
county answering point are not confidential. All calls for emergency service reporting
alleged criminal conduct which are recorded electronically, in writing or in any other form
are to be kept confidential by the county answering point receiving the call eand may be
released only pursuant to an order entered by a court of competent jurisdiction, a valid
subpoena or through the course of discovery in a criminal action requirring the release of the
information: Provided, That nothing contained in this section may be construed as
preventing the county answering point from releasing information to a responding agency as
may be necessary for that agency's response on a call or the completion of necessary reports
relating to that call. t
(b) Upon proper request and payment of a reasonable fee set by the center director to cover
the cost of production, a person or entity may obtain, without court order or a valid
subpoena, a transcription of a call for emergency service reporting alleged criminal conduct.
The answering point shall exclude from the trsanscription any information relating to the
identity of the caller including, but not limited to, the caller's name, address, telephone
number or his or her location in relation to the alleged offense or the alleged perpetrator. If
the transcript of a call is such that itg cannot be successfully redacted so as to protect the
identity of the caller, the answering point may decline to provide the transcript. In that case,
the person requesting the tranescription may apply to a court of competent jurisdiction for a
court order releasing the transcript.
(c) All calls for emergency service which are recorded electronically, in writing or in any
other form are to be maintained for a period of at least two years or longer if required by an
order entered by a court of competent jurisdiction or a valid subpoena.
(d) A county answering point may release information to bonafide law-enforcement agencies,
theW prosecuting attorney of a county or a United States attorney pursuant to a lawful
criminal investigation. Nothing in this article may be construed as prohibiting a freedom of
information request under §29B-1-1 et seq. of this code for information relating to the
operation of the center or to calls for emergency service which do not involve reporting of
alleged criminal conduct.
(e) Nothing in this article requires disclosure of any information that is specifically exempt
from disclosure by statute. Except as otherwise provided in this article, nothing prohibits
disclosure of information that is not specifically exempted from disclosure under a provision
of this code.
(f) Every county answering point shall, within 90 days of the effective date of this section,
promulgate a written policy, available to the public, reflecting its compliance with the
provisions of this section.
(g) No answering point or center personnel may be civilly liable for any injury arising from
disclosure of information pursuant to the provisions of this section.

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