VIRGINIA News

RICHMOND – Virginia’s fight against online sexual predators will get a
boost when a new law takes effect July 1.

The law will assess an additional $10 fee on each felony and
misdemeanor conviction. The money will go into Virginia’s Internet
Crimes Against Children Fund to support the work of investigators.

The fee is expected to generate at least $1.5 million a year for the
fund, which will be administered by the Virginia State Police.

The fund and additional fee were created by Senate Bill 620, which
was passed by the General Assembly this year and signed into law by Gov.
Bob McDonnell.

“This is going to be enormous – the most important public safety bill
this session by a long shot,” said Sen. Creigh Deeds
(D-Charlottesville), who sponsored SB 620. Deeds also wrote Megan’s Law,
which gives the public access to the state’s registry of sex offenders,
and helped create the Amber Alert program to inform the public about
possible child abductions.

“It’s easy to say we’re going to be tough on crime, but it’s not easy
to go out and find the appropriate resources,” he said.

Internet Crimes Against Children units have been established in
Fairfax and Bedford counties. They each will receive one-third of the
money from the fund. Most of the remaining third will be available as
grants to other local law-enforcement agencies that wish to start their
own units.

“A third of this money will be available to grants across the state –
so expect to see more arrests and more children protected,” Deeds said.
“We’re putting our money where our mouths are.”

In terms of protecting children, the 2010 General Assembly did more
than bolster funding for the Internet Crimes Against Children task
forces.

Legislators also passed House Bill 736, which will add state police
and circuit courts to the list of agencies required to report cases of
child abuse and neglect into an online database called the Virginia
Child Protection Accountability System.

This will increase communication and cooperation among law
enforcement agencies, said the measure’s sponsor, Del. David Albo
(R-Springfield). The law also will help officials see whether some
localities fail to pursue people who prey on children.

In the wake of the death of University of
Virginia lacrosse player Yeardley Love, there's a move under way in
Virginia to expand the issuance of "family-abuse" protective orders to
include dating couples who do not live together or have a child.
In Virginia, the only people who can obtain family-abuse protective
orders are family and household members, including spouses, and people
who cohabit or have a child in common.
Couples who date but live separately are not eligible.
Love's former boyfriend has been charged with first-degree murder,
and although there's no indication that she sought protection from him,
the situation has prompted state lawmakers to take another look at
adding protections for dating couples.
Del. Joseph D. Morrissey, D-Henrico, is drafting legislation for the
2011 General Assembly session, and the Virginia State Crime Commission
has created a protective-order working group to study the dating
inclusion and other potential changes. Their first meeting is in June.
"Just because two people are living in separate apartments, that
should not be the reason preventing one of the individuals from getting a
protective order," Morrissey said.
Previous attempts have been made to expand the state's definition of
family and household members to include dating partners -- as recently
as this year's General Assembly session -- but they have suffered from a
lack of consensus on details of the description.
Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan, who in the past has advocated adding
dating couples to the people covered, said the problem lies in finding a
way to broaden the definition of dating couples enough, but not too
much.
"It's very difficult to be able to draw a definitive line in terms of
how you, in law, establish that there is effectively enough of a
relationship between two individuals that they would be able to
determine from the actions of the other that they were in significant
jeopardy," he said.
Currently, there is a second kind of protective order in Virginia
that covers stalking, sexual battery and acts of violence, and isn't
restricted to family members.
But a stalking protective order may be issued only after a judge or
magistrate has issued a warrant for the arrest of the abuser.
So for dating couples living apart, "you have to wait until something
really bad has happened, where with the family statute, there can just
be threats or some other behaviors that make you feel afraid," said
Angela Verdery, deputy director of Safe Harbor, a domestic-violence
program that provides a 24-hour hotline, emergency shelter, counseling
and support for adults. She supports opening up protective orders to
intimate partners because the order, in many cases, prevents further
serious injury. Making the orders easier to get would strengthen the
domestic-violence prevention system, she said.
The renewed legislative effort comes after a series of high-profile
cases of domestic violence in recent years in the Richmond area.
Chesterfield County mother Crystal Diane Snipes was granted an
emergency protection order two years ago against the man who eventually
killed her. Snipes' protective order lapsed two weeks later, after a
Henrico County judge ruled there was a lack of evidence to grant her a
permanent protective order, according to court records.
Three weeks ago, Snipes' former boyfriend shot her to death in front
of their youngest son before turning the gun on himself.
One week later, on May 20, a Hanover County woman was found smothered
to death, according to the state medical examiner's office. Helen A.
Dickerson had taken out a protective order against her companion in
early April, and it expired later that month. Russell C. Chalkley, 48,
is charged with first-degree murder in her death.
In 2005, University of Richmond student De'Nora Hill penned her
desperation in a criminal complaint filed a week before her former
boyfriend Joe Casuccio gunned her down: "I am living in fear and I want
it to end."
A Henrico magistrate granted Hill an emergency protective order
against Casuccio and then a preliminary protective order. A hearing to
make it permanent was scheduled. Hill died just days before that
hearing. After killing Hill, Casuccio turned the gun on himself.

RICHMOND, Va – The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) joined
the partnership between Virginia State Police (VSP), local law
enforcement agencies, broadcasters and the Virginia Department of Transportation
(VDOT) to activate urgent bulletins in the most serious child abduction
cases. The Amber Alert system instantly notifies the public through
various means to assist in the search and safe return of a child and
apprehension of the suspect.

When law enforcement issues an Amber Alert in Virginia, broadcasters
interrupt their schedules to air an announcement and 14 permanent VDOT
signs along area roads alert motorists with a message describing the
vehicle that the suspect is believed to be driving. Now, the urgent
message will also scroll across queuing monitors that display customers’
ticket numbers in DMV’s 74 customer service centers.

DMV also participates in the Virginia Senior Alert program which is
similar to the Amber Alert but is issued to help law enforcement
agencies locate missing senior adults. DMV activated the alert today
following notification of a missing Maryland woman.

http://www.wtvr.com/news/wtvr-dmv-to-join-virginias-amber-alert-partnership-20110613,0,7223930.story