What are the differences between the Virginia missing persons alerts?
ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR)—Over the past week, Southwest Virginia has seen several missing person alerts. The Commonwealth has 6 missing person alerts it sends out, each with its own criteria for how the Virginia state police is allowed to send them out. It all begins at the local level.
'The way the process works is that a local agency, let's say, Roanoke County Police, Roanoke City Police, Franklin County Sheriff's Office, they make a request of us when they have a missing person and then we issue the alert,' Matthew Demlein, the spokesperson for the Virginia State Police, said.
Out of the 6, there are 2 alerts that may be difficult to distinguish: Amber and CODI alerts.
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'An amber alert, you have to believe an abduction has taken place, and a CODI alert doesn't involve an abduction. It is a child that has gone missing under such circumstances that their health and safety is believed to be at risk,' Demlein said.
There are 4 other alerts VSP can send out:
Blue Alert: Issued when police are searching for a missing officer, or looking for a suspect who killed or hurt an officer.
Senior Alert: For anyone over the age of 60 with some kind of impairment, like dementia or alzheimers.
A missing person with autism alert.
Critically missing adult alert: For anyone over the 18 whose disappearance poses a credible threat to their safety.
'There are a number of these criteria, a number of steps in the process that have to be met for us to issue an alert,' Demlein said, 'We don't want to be in a situation where, you know, everything qualifies as an alert and then people start to tune them out.'
CODI Alert cancelled after Salem teen found
Demlein says, even if an alert is sent out hours or even days after a disappearance, VSP has already begun its search the moment a department reaches out to them.
'This is to help the public provide us with information, be another set of eyes to help us and local law enforcement, look for missing people and get them home safely,' Demlein said.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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