Chapter 15 of the West Virginia Code authorizes the establishment, equipping, and maintaining of a Criminal Identification Bureau for the purpose of receiving and filing fingerprints, photographs, records, and other information pertaining to the investigation of crime and the apprehension of criminals. The Bureau may furnish fingerprints, photographs, records, or other information to authorized law-enforcement and governmental agencies of the United States and its territories, of foreign countries duly authorized to receive such information, of other States within the United States, and of West Virginia upon proper request. The Bureau may furnish such information to other persons and organizations only when the person who is the subject of the records gives proper permission. West Virginia's Freedom of Information Act provides that all persons are, unless otherwise expressly provided by law, entitled to complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of those who represent them as public officials and employees. Among the records exempted from such access are law- enforcement investigative records and the internal records and notations of such agencies that are maintained for internal use in matters relating to law enforcement.
Compendium of State Privacy and Security Legislation: 1997 Overview - West Virginia; West Virginia Code Annotated
NCJ Number
170085
Date Published
May 1997
Annotation
This is a 1997 overview of West Virginia law pertinent to the privacy and security of criminal justice information.
Abstract
Date Published: May 1, 1997