Title 52. Police (State) Subtitle . Chapter 1. Department of State Police Chapter 1. Department of State Police. § 52-1. Establishment of Department headed by Superintendent; Bureau of Criminal Investigation and division of drug law enforcement and investigation within Department.There is hereby established as a separate department, a Department of State Police headed by the Superintendent of State Police. There shall be established within the Department of State Police, in addition to any other divisions or bureaus that may be established by statute or otherwise, a Bureau of Criminal Investigation and a division for drug law enforcement and investigation. 1942, p. 340; Michie Code 1942, § 585(71a); R. P. 1948, § 52-1; 1974, c. 483; 1980, c. 232; 2000, cc. 560, 600. The Superintendent of State Police shall be appointed by the Governor, subject to confirmation by the General Assembly if in session when such appointment is made, and if not in session, then at its next succeeding session. Such officer shall hold his office at the pleasure of the Governor for a term coincident with that of each Governor making the appointment, or until his successor shall be appointed and qualified. Vacancies shall be filled for the unexpired term in the same manner as original appointments are made. 1942, p. 340; Michie Code 1942, § 585(71a); R. P. 1948, § 52-2. The Superintendent of State Police, before entering upon the discharge of his duties, shall take an oath that he will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties of his office and shall be bonded in accordance with § 2.2-1840. The Superintendent shall receive such salary as may be appropriated for the purpose. 1942, p. 340; Michie Code 1942, § 585(71a); R. P. 1948, § 52-3; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 152. The highway patrol, or state police patrol as it is sometimes called, the police school, the state police radio or communication system, the supervision of inspection stations and of inspectors of motor vehicles, the promotion of highway safety, the establishment and direction of a vehicle accident prevention and safety program for state agencies, the adoption of standards for motor vehicle appliances, accessories and safety devices and the registration of machine guns shall be in the Department of State Police. 1942, p. 340; Michie Code 1942, § 585(71a); 1948, p. 419; R.P. 1948, § 52-4; 1980, c. 469; 1986, c. 228; 1988, c. 806; 1989, c. 18. Repealed by Acts 1968, c. 722. (a) The Department of Motor Vehicles shall tabulate and analyze all accident reports and shall publish annually, or more frequently, statistical information based thereon as to the number and circumstances of traffic accidents. (b) Based upon its findings, after analysis, the Department may conduct further necessary detailed research to determine more fully the cause, control and prevention of highway accidents. It may further conduct experimental field tests within areas of the Commonwealth from time to time to prove the practicability of various ideas advanced in traffic control and accident prevention. (c) The Department of Motor Vehicles shall promptly furnish a copy of any particular accident report or a proof of financial responsibility to any attorney for the Commonwealth upon the request of that person, without charge to be used only in the performance of his official duties. Code 1950, §§ 46-411, 46-412; 1958, c. 550; 1968, c. 760; 1985, c. 10. A. There is hereby created in the Department of the Treasury a special nonreverting fund to be known as the Drug Investigation Special Trust Account, consisting of such funds as may be appropriated by the General Assembly from time to time and all interest, dividends and appreciation, including payments to the fund from the federal government by virtue of a grant, gift, forfeiture or other disposition, which may accrue to such fund, for the purpose of providing a timely supplemental source of money to the Department of State Police for use in the detection, investigation and apprehension of persons for the violation of the laws pertaining to the manufacture, sale or distribution of illegal drugs. B. Funds from the Drug Investigation Special Trust Account shall be used to supplement general appropriations for the Department of State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations and a division for drug law enforcement and investigation for nonpersonal service expenditures related to illegal drug investigations. They shall be used only for the purposes stated in subsection A and in strict conformity with the rules and regulations promulgated by the Superintendent of State Police to carry out the intent and purposes of this section. C. No expenditures shall be made from the Drug Investigation Trust Account except in strict compliance with procedures established by the Superintendent of State Police and approved by the State Comptroller. The accounting for all such expenditures shall also be in strict compliance with such procedures. D. The Drug Investigation Special Trust Account shall be established on the books of the Comptroller so as to segregate the amounts appropriated to the account and the amounts earned or accumulated by such special trust account. No portion of such special trust account shall be used for a purpose other than for drug investigations. Funds remaining in the Drug Investigation Special Trust Account at the end of a biennium shall not revert to the general fund but shall remain in the special trust account, to be used for the purposes set forth in subsections A through C and shall accumulate interest and dividends throughout the existence of the special trust account. Any funds, however, remaining in the special trust account at the end of a biennium in excess of $1,500,000 shall revert to the general fund. 1972, c. 320; 1982, c. 431; 1989, c. 168; 2000, cc. 560, 600. The Superintendent of the Department of State Police shall establish a toll-free telephone number which shall be operational seven days a week between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., except December 25, for purposes of responding to inquiries from licensed firearms dealers, as such term is defined in 18 U.S.C. § 921 et seq., pursuant to the provisions of § 18.2-308.2:2. The Department shall hire and train such personnel as are necessary to administer the provisions of this section. 1989, c. 745; 1997, c. 341. A. For purposes of this section: "Authorized use" means the use of facial recognition technology to (i) help identify an individual when there is a reasonable suspicion the individual has committed a crime; (ii) help identify a crime victim, including a victim of online sexual abuse material; (iii) help identify a person who may be a missing person or witness to criminal activity; (iv) help identify a victim of human trafficking or an individual involved in the trafficking of humans, weapons, drugs, or wildlife; (v) help identify an online recruiter of criminal activity, including but not limited to human, weapon, drug, and wildlife trafficking; (vi) help a person who is suffering from a mental or physical disability impairing his ability to communicate and be understood; (vii) help identify a deceased person; (viii) help identify a person who is incapacitated or otherwise unable to identify himself; (ix) help identify a person who is reasonably believed to be a danger to himself or others; (x) help identify an individual lawfully detained; (xi) help mitigate an imminent threat to public safety, a significant threat to life, or a threat to national security, including acts of terrorism; (xii) ensure officer safety as part of the vetting of undercover law enforcement; (xiii) determine whether an individual may have unlawfully obtained one or more state driver's licenses, financial instruments, or other official forms of identification using information that is fictitious or associated with a victim of identity theft; or (xiv) help identify a person who an officer reasonably believes is concealing his true identity and about whom the officer has a reasonable suspicion has committed a crime other than concealing his identity. "Facial recognition technology" means an electronic system or service for conducting an algorithmic comparison of images of a person's facial features for the purpose of identification. "Facial recognition technology" does not include the use of automated or semi-automated process to redact a recording in order to protect the privacy of a subject depicted in the recording prior to release or disclosure of the recording outside of the law-enforcement agency if the process does not generate or result in the retention of any biometric data or surveillance information. "Publicly post" means to post on a website that is maintained by the entity or on any other website on which the entity generally posts information and that is available to the public or that clearly describes how the public may access such data. B. Pursuant to § 2.2-1112, the Division of Purchases and Supply (the Division) shall determine the appropriate facial recognition technology for use in accordance with this section. The Division shall not approve any facial recognition technology unless it has been evaluated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as part of the Face Recognition Vendor Test. Any facial recognition technology utilized shall utilize algorithms that have demonstrated (i) an accuracy score of at least 98 percent true positives within one or more datasets relevant to the application in a NIST Face Recognition Vendor Test report and (ii) minimal performance variations across demographics associated with race, skin tone, ethnicity, or gender. The Division shall require all approved vendors to annually provide independent assessments and benchmarks offered by NIST to confirm continued compliance with this section. C. The Department shall create a model policy regarding the use of facial recognition technology, which shall be known as the State Police Model Facial Recognition Technology Policy, and shall, as a part of such model policy, administer protocols for handling requests for assistance in the use of facial recognition technology made to the Department by local law-enforcement agencies and campus police departments. The Department shall publicly post such policy no later than January 1, 2023, and such policy shall be updated annually thereafter and shall include:

  1. Requirements for training facilitated through the Department, including the nature and frequency of specialized training required for an individual to be authorized by a law-enforcement agency to utilize facial recognition technology as authorized by this section;
  2. The extent to which a law-enforcement agency shall document (i) instances when facial recognition technology is used for authorized purposes and (ii) how long such information is retained;
  3. Procedures for the confirmation of any initial findings generated by facial recognition technology by a secondary examiner; and
  4. Promulgation of standing orders, policies, or public materials by law-enforcement agencies that use facial recognition technology. D. The Department may use facial recognition technology for authorized uses. A match made through facial recognition technology shall not be included in an affidavit to establish probable cause for purposes of issuance of a search warrant or an arrest warrant but shall be admissible as exculpatory evidence. The Department shall not (i) use facial recognition technology for tracking the movements of an identified individual in a public space in real time; (ii) create a database of images using a live video feed for the purpose of using facial recognition technology; or (iii) enroll a comparison image in a commercial image repository of a facial recognition technology service provider except pursuant to an authorized use. Following such use as provided in clause (iii), no comparison image may be retained or used further by the service provider except as required for auditing that use or as may be otherwise required by law. E. The Department shall maintain records regarding its use of facial recognition technology. Such records shall be sufficient to facilitate discovery in criminal proceedings, post-conviction proceedings, public reporting, and auditing of compliance with the Department's policy. The Department shall collect data pertaining to (i) a complete history of each user's queries; (ii) the total number of queries conducted; (iii) the number of queries that resulted in a list of possible candidates; (iv) how many times an examiner offered the Department an investigative lead based on his findings; (v) how many cases were closed due to an investigative lead from facial recognition technology; (vi) what types of criminal offenses are being investigated; (vii) the nature of the image repository being compared or queried; (viii) demographic information for the individuals whose images are queried; and (ix) if applicable, any other entities with which the Department shared facial recognition data. F. The Superintendent shall publicly post and annually update a report by April 1 each year to provide information to the public regarding the Department's use of facial recognition technology. The report shall include all data required by clauses (ii) through (viii) of subsection E in addition to (i) all instances of unauthorized access of the facial recognition technology, including any unauthorized access by employees of the Department; (ii) vendor information, including the specific algorithms employed; and (iii) if applicable, data or links related to third-party testing of such algorithms, including any reference to variations in demographic performance. If any information or data (a) contains an articulable concern for any person's safety; (b) is otherwise prohibited from public disclosure by federal or state statute; or (c) if disclosed, may compromise sensitive criminal justice information, such information or data may be excluded from public disclosure. Nothing herein shall limit disclosure of data collected pursuant to subsection E when such disclosure is related to a writ of habeas corpus. For purposes of this subsection, "sensitive criminal justice information" means information related to (1) a particular ongoing criminal investigation or proceeding, (2) the identity of a confidential source, or (3) law-enforcement investigative techniques and procedures. G. Any facial recognition technology operator employed by the Department who (i) violates the Department's policy for the use of facial recognition technology or (ii) conducts a search for any reason other than an authorized use is guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor and shall be required to complete training on the Department's policy on and authorized uses of facial recognition technology before being reinstated to operate such facial recognition technology. The Department shall terminate from employment any facial recognition technology operator who violates clause (i) or (ii) for a second time. A facial recognition technology operator who commits a second or subsequent violation of this subsection is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. 2022, c. 737. Repealed by Acts 1978, c. 470. The Superintendent of State Police, with the approval of the Governor, shall have authority to appoint additional police officers, who may or may not be residents of this Commonwealth, to serve for specified periods of time. The police officers so appointed shall receive such compensation as the Superintendent shall approve. Such police officers shall have the same powers and perform the same duties as the regular police officers appointed by the Superintendent. 1932, p. 618; Michie Code 1942, § 2154(54); R. P. 1948, § 52-6; 1985, c. 272. All appointments to sworn police positions above the rank of trooper within the Department of State Police shall be made by the Superintendent of State Police from among the sworn police officers of the Department, except for those positions designated in subdivision A 20 of § 2.2-2905, or whenever the Superintendent determines, in writing, that a position requires knowledge, skills, or abilities such that a sufficient pool of qualified candidates does not exist within the Department of State Police. It was and is the intent of the General Assembly that the primary factor in the career progression program is satisfactory years of service. 1993, c. 766. All police officers appointed by the Superintendent of State Police, and engaged in the enforcement of criminal laws and the laws relating to the operation of motor vehicles upon the roads and highways of this Commonwealth, shall, before entering upon or continuing in their duties, enter into bond, with some solvent guaranty company authorized to do business in this Commonwealth, as surety, in the penalty of $75,000 and with condition for the faithful and lawful performance of their duties. Such bonds shall be filed in the office of the Department of State Police, and the premiums thereon shall be paid out of the funds appropriated for the maintenance and operation of the Department of State Police. All persons injured or damaged in any manner by the unlawful, negligent or improper conduct of any such officer while on duty may maintain an action upon such bond. In lieu of posting bond as provided herein, any such police officer may furnish an adequate liability insurance policy as proof of his ability to respond in damages, which may be adjudged against him in favor of any person or persons injured or damaged in any manner resulting from his unlawful, negligent or improper conduct while on official duty, to the amount set forth above. The premiums on any such insurance policy or policies shall be paid out of the funds appropriated for the maintenance and operation of the Department of State Police. All such bonds and insurance policies shall be approved by the Superintendent of State Police. 1926, p. 941; 1940, p. 473; Michie Code 1942, § 2154(51a); R. P. 1948, § 52-7; 1950, p. 150; 1966, c. 213; 1968, c. 492. The Superintendent of State Police, his several assistants and police officers appointed by him are vested with the powers of a sheriff for the purpose of enforcing all the criminal laws of this Commonwealth and for investigating any aircraft accident which occurs in the Commonwealth, and it shall be the duty of the Superintendent, his several assistants and police officers appointed by him to use their best efforts to enforce the same. Nothing in this section shall be construed as relieving any sheriff or sergeant, commissioner of the revenue, police officer, or any other official now or hereafter invested with police powers and duties, state or local, from the duty of aiding and assisting in the enforcement of such laws within the scope of his authority and duty. 1932, p. 617; 1934, p. 277; Michie Code 1942, § 2154(53); 1944, p. 204; R. P. 1948, § 52-8; 1968, c. 737. In addition to any other powers and duties which may be provided by statute or otherwise, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation shall conduct an investigation into any matter referred to it by the Governor. The Bureau of Criminal Investigation shall, when requested by the Attorney General, any sheriff, chief of police, attorney for the Commonwealth or grand jury, conduct an investigation into the subject matter so directed or requested, if the person or grand jury making the request has reasonable cause to believe the acts committed or about to be committed would constitute a Class 1, 2 or 3 felony, to determine whether any such criminal violations have occurred, are occurring or are about to occur. The Bureau may, in all other requests for investigations made by the Attorney General, any sheriff, chief of police, attorney for the Commonwealth or grand jury, conduct an investigation into the subject matter so requested, to determine whether any criminal violations have occurred