H. B. 4499
(By Delegates Moore, Doyle, Guthrie, Lane, Long, Rodighiero,
Shook, Sobonya and Overington)
[Introduced
February 12, 2008
; refereed to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new article, designated §15-4A-1, §15-4A-2,
§15-4A-3, §15-4A-4 and §15-4A-5, all relating to the
establishment of a "Silver Alert Plan" to rapidly disseminate
information with regard to missing senior citizens and missing
persons that has a mental impairment.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended be amended,
by adding thereto a new article, designated §15-4A-1, §15-4A-2,
§15-4A-3, §15-4A-4, §15-4A-5, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3B. SILVER ALERT PLAN.
§15-3B-1. Short Title.
This article shall be known as the "Silver Alert Plan".
§15-3B-2. Definitions.
As used in this article:
(1)"Alert" means a statewide silver alert for a missing senior
citizen with a mental impairment and persons with a mental
impairment.
(2)"Local law enforcement agency" means a county sheriff's
office or a municipal police department.
(3)"mental impairment" means a substantial disorder of
thought, mood, perception, orientation or memory, that grossly
impairs judgement, behavior or ability, to live independently or
provide self care as certified by a physician, psychiatrist or
psychologist.
(4)"senior citizen" means any person who is sixty-five years
of age or older.
§15-3B-3. Establishment of a Silver Alert Plan.
(a)The secretary of the department of military affairs and
public safety shall establish the "Silver Alert Plan", a program
authorizing the broadcast media, upon notice from the state police,
to transmit an emergency alert to inform the public of a missing
senior citizen with a mental impairment or a missing person with a
mental impairment. The program shall be a voluntary, cooperative
effort between state and local law enforcement agencies and the
broadcast media.
(b)The secretary shall notify the broadcast media serving the
state of West Virginia of the establishment of "Silver Alert Plan"
and invite their voluntary participation.
§15-3B-4. Activation of the Silver Alert Plan.
All the following criteria shall be met before the state
police activate the "Silver Alert Plan";
(1) The local law enforcement agency confirms that the person
is missing;
(2) The person is sixty-five years of age or older and has a
mental impairment or is a missing person and has been diagnosed
with a mental impairment;
(3) The disappearance of the missing person poses a credible
threat of immediate danger or bodily harm or death to the person;
and
(4) There is sufficient descriptive information about the
person and the circumstances surrounding the person's disappearance
to indicate that activation of the alert will help locate such
person;
§15-3B-5. Guidelines; Procedural rules; Notice to the broadcast
media.
(a) The provisions of section five, article three-a are
applicable to "silver alert plan" as established by this article.
(b) The secretary may adopt guidelines and procedural rules to
effectuate the purpose of this article.
Note: The purpose of this bill is to establish a silver alert
system to rapidly disseminate information about a missing senior
citizens or individual that has a mental impairment. The bill
establishes specific criteria that must be met before a alert will
be issued.
This article is new; therefore, strike throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.