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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>86283</law_id><section_number>15.2-1718</section_number><catch_line>Receipt of missing child reports</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="15.2">Counties, Cities and Towns</unit><unit label="subtitle" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="II">Powers of Local Government</unit><unit label="chapter" level="3" order_by="1" identifier="17">Police and Public Order</unit><unit label="article" level="4" order_by="1" identifier="1">General Provisions</unit></structure><text>
						<section><p>No police or sheriff&#x2019;s department shall establish or maintain any policy which requires the observance of any waiting period before accepting a missing child report as defined in &#xA7;&#xA0;<a class="law" title="Definitions" href="/52-32/">52-32</a>. Upon receipt of a missing child report by any police or sheriff&#x2019;s department, the department shall immediately, but in all cases within two hours of receiving the report, enter identifying and descriptive data about the child into the Virginia Criminal Information Network and the National <span class="dictionary">Crime</span> Information Center Systems, forward the report to the Missing Children Information Clearinghouse within the Department of State Police, notify all other <span class="dictionary">law</span>-enforcement agencies in the area, and initiate an investigation of the case.</p></section></text><history>1985, c. 259, &#xA7; 15.1-131.9; 1990, c. 239; 1997, c. 587; 2004, cc. 248, 443.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
