Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

If a child goes missing in Prince Edward or Cumberland, up until now Virginia State Police couldn’t issue an alert unless he or she had been abducted. That’s changing, thanks to a bill supported by Del. Tommy Wright, one that passed in the 2024 General Assembly. The Critical Operation for a Disappeared Child Initiative, aka the CODI Alert, is now active across the Commonwealth.

It gives State Police a formal way to issue a notification when a child goes missing, but hasn’t been abducted. House Bill 1388 established CODI Alerts, named for four-year-old Codi Bigsby of Hampton, who was reported missing in 2022 and has never been found. It became one of just a handful of bills to pass through the Virginia House and Senate without any opposition. 

For a CODI Alert to be issued, certain criteria must be met. The child must be 17 years old or younger or be currently enrolled in a secondary school in the state, regardless of age. The child’s whereabouts must be unknown, and the disappearance must be under suspicious circumstances or pose a credible threat as determined by law enforcement to the safety and health of the child and under such other circumstances as deemed appropriate by the VSP. There must also be sufficient information available to disseminate to the public to assist in location. 

Any investigating agency that believes a missing child meets this criteria must contact the VSP to pursue the activation of the alert, according to the news release.

Special education programs included 

VSP Interim Public Relations Director Matthew Demlein said that the language in the legislation allows CODI alerts to also cover students over age 17, such as those in special education programs through secondary schools in the state.

“This new alert will provide greater awareness of critically missing and endangered children in the Commonwealth, allowing the public to be aware and assist if possible,” he explained.

HB 1388 required VSP to work with local law enforcement agencies, including representatives from the Virginia Sheriffs’ Association and the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police, to establish the policies for the CODI Alert Programs. 
“CODI Alert Programs may be local, regional or statewide” the bill stated. “They may include multiple localities or regions and may be expanded or compressed.”

The legislation that won unanimous approval in both the House of Delegates and the state Senate, allows VSP to send CODI alerts using  Virginia’s emergency alert system. It goes on to encourage participating media to issue CODI Alerts at designated intervals as specified by the program.

Demlein said these alerts will be sent out from the Virginia State Police public relations office to the media statewide, similar to what is done for critically missing adults and senior alerts.  

“It is also posted on the VSP alerts webpage, on social media, and to other participating partners — via our Everbridge system,” he explained. “Alerts can be sent to cell phones if Virginia State Police and the investigating agency determine it will be of assistance in the search.”

CODI Alert one of six programs 

State police said in announcing activation of the CODI Alert Program that there are now six alert programs that can be used by law enforcement.

In addition to CODI alerts, AMBER alerts will continue to be issued in cases where a child has been abducted.

“State police can also issue Senior alerts (over 60 years of age with cognitive impairment), Critically Missing Adult alerts (18 years of age or older, whose disappearance poses a credible threat to safety and health), Missing Person with Autism alerts (autism spectrum disorder, whose disappearance poses a credible threat to safety and health); and Blue alerts (missing law enforcement officer or an ongoing search for a suspect involved in the death or injury of an officer). 

All alerts can be found online by clicking here.

While the CODI Alert Program is active, Demlein said state police have not yet issued one. When they do, he went on to explain that they will remain active until the missing child is located.

During 2023, Virginia State Police, at the request of local law enforcement agencies, issued six AMBER Alerts, 42 Senior Alerts, 30 Critically Missing Adult Alerts, and three Missing Person with Autism Alerts, state police stated in the news release. There were no Blue Alerts last year.

State police were able to get the CODI Alert Program active earlier this month, well ahead of the July 1, 2025 deadline set in the legislation signed into law by Gov. Glenn Youngkin April 8.