The Virginia State Police shall develop policies for the establishment of uniform standards for the creation of Virginia Missing Person with Autism Alert Programs throughout the Commonwealth. The Virginia State Police shall (i) inform local law-enforcement officials of the policies and procedures to be used for the Missing Person with Autism Alert Programs; (ii) assist in determining the geographic scope of a particular Missing Person with Autism Alert; and (iii) establish procedures and standards by which a local law-enforcement agency shall verify that a person with autism is missing and shall report such information to the Virginia State Police.
The establishment of a Missing Person with Autism Alert Program by a local law-enforcement agency and the media is voluntary, and nothing in this chapter shall be construed to be a mandate that local officials or the media establish or participate in a Missing Person with Autism Alert Program.
2020, c. 19; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 189.