HAMPTON, Va. — Several alerts for missing individuals have recently been issued in Hampton Roads.
Virginia State Police talked with News 3 to give some insight into the various types of alerts and their differences. Matt Demleiner, spokesperson for VSP, said there are six types of alerts:
- An Amber Alert is issued in cases of abduction and is the most well-known.
- A Critically Missing Adult Alert applies when an adult could pose a credible threat to themselves.
- A Senior Alert targets individuals aged 60 and older who have a cognitive impairment.
- A Virginia Blue Alert refers to a missing law enforcement officer.
- There is also a separate alert for Missing Persons with Autism.
- The newest addition is the Codi Alert.
Watch related coverage: Virginia State Police begins to implement CODI Alert, named after Codi Bigsby
Governor Glenn Youngkin signed the Codi Alert into law in 2024 in response to the circumstances surrounding the case of Codi Bigsby, who went missing in Hampton in 2022. An Amber Alert was not issued for Bigsby, because police believed he had not been abducted. This later prompted local lawmakers to advocate for the creation of the Codi Alert.
The Codi Alert has different criteria and available tools compared to Amber Alerts.
“For example, federal rules don’t allow us to use highway signs for Codi Alerts, but they do in the case of an Amber Alert,” said Demleiner. “We can send out, depending on the circumstances and request, the phone alerts for a Codi Alert, but they’re much more common with the Amber Alerts.”
Watch related video: New ‘CODI Alert,’ like other missing persons alerts, is voluntary
Demleiner noted that state police try to avoid sending phone notifications for alerts during overnight hours.
“In part because we want people to keep those alerts activated so that they’re useful. If we’re waking people up in the middle of the night, people are going to start turning off all the alerts,” he added.
Since the Codi Alert became law, VSP says it has been used 13 times. The alerts consider various factors such as age and the circumstances surrounding the individual’s disappearance, as well as any known medical conditions.
State police emphasize that the search for a missing person does not begin with the VSP-issued alert. Rather, it typically starts with the local police department that is investigating the case. However, the state alert disseminates information to a wider audience in hopes of finding the missing person.
