ENROLLED
H. B. 4075
(By Delegates DeLong,
Caputo, Fragale, Webster, White, Kominar
and Shook)
[Passed March 7, 2008; in effect ninety days from passage.]
AN ACT to amend and reenact §15-3A-2 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; and to amend said code by adding thereto a
new section, designated §15-3A-7, all relating to use of video
image recording devices in an Amber Alert activation;
providing for video image monitoring during Amber Alert
activations; and, directing the Secretary of Military Affairs
and Public Safety to develop a plan to implement a video
monitoring system during Amber Alerts.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §15-3A-2 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; and that said code be amended by adding
thereto a new section, designated §15-3A-7, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3A. Amber Alert Plan.
§15-3A-2. Findings and determinations relative to "Amber's Plan".
(a) The Legislature finds and determines that:
(1) Public alerts can be one of the most effective tools in
combating child abductions;
(2) Law-enforcement officers and other professionals
specializing in the field of abducted and missing children agree
that the most critical moments in the search for an abducted child
are the first few hours immediately following the abduction,
asserting that if a child is not found within two to four hours, it
is unlikely that child will be found alive;
(3) The rapid dissemination of information, including a
description of the abducted child, details of the abduction,
abductor and vehicle involved, to the citizens of the affected
community and region is, therefore, critical;
(4) Alerted to an abduction, the citizenry become an extensive
network of eyes and ears serving to assist law enforcement in
quickly locating and safely recovering the child;
(5) The most effective method of immediately notifying the
public of a child abduction is through the broadcast media; and
(6) That in addition to public alerts, other tools allowing
rapid response and identification of the movements of persons
suspected in a child abduction require the use all forms of
developing technologies to assist law enforcement in rapid response
to these alerts and is an additional tool for assuring the well
being and safety of our children. Thus, the use of traffic video
recording and monitoring devices for the purpose of surveillance of
a suspect vehicle adds yet another set of eyes to assist law enforcement and aid in the safe recovery of the child.
(b) The Legislature declares that given the successes other
states and regions have experienced in using broadcast media alerts
to quickly locate and safely recover abducted children, and, with
the recent development of highway video recording and monitoring
systems, it is altogether fitting and proper, and within the public
interest, to establish these programs for West Virginia.
§15-3A-7. Providing for the use of video image recording devices
for search purposes during an Amber Alert
Activation.
(a) The State Police and the division of highways shall
coordinate a process to utilize all available video recording and
monitoring devices for the purpose of monitoring Amber Alert suspect
vehicles. This program shall be called the "Guardian Angel Video
Monitoring" Program.
(b) The secretary of military affairs and public safety shall
also develop a plan to provide for the State Police to monitor and
utilize video recording and monitoring devices during an Amber
Alert. This "Guardian Angel Video Monitoring" implementation plan
shall include at a minimum, the following:
(1) Utilization of any state or local video recording and
monitoring devices upon agreement with the department, agency or
political subdivision in control of the video recording device; and,
(2) Development of policies and initiatives relating to facilitating sharing of information with neighboring states wherein
suspect vehicles in Amber Alerts may be crossing state lines.
(c) The secretary shall submit the plan to the Joint Committee
on Government and Finance no later than December 1, 2008. The plan
shall include an analysis of all related costs for equipping and
using a statewide video recording and monitoring system during the
duration of an Amber Alert and recommendations for any additional
legislation or actions necessary to further facilitate the
implementation of the "Guardian Angel Video Monitoring" program.