Law enforcement officers in West Virginia may no longer have to “confirm” a child has been abducted to issue an AMBER Alert. The state senate approved a bill in April that would allow the alert to be issued for any missing child. Legislators also approved the “Kelsey Smith Act” that lets police compel a wireless provider to issue a “ping” on the phone of anyone considered to be in danger. Police in Kansas were denied access to Kelsey Smith's cellphone number for 4 days because she had not dialed 911. Her body was found 45 minutes after a ping finally went out.

The disappearance of a 3-year-old girl prompted the Bridgeport, West Virginia, Police Department to launch an Endangered Missing Advisory program for cases where vehicle information is not available. Police began searching for Aliayah Lunsford on September 24 after she went missing but did not issue an AMBER Alert because the state's criteria requires vehicle information. Community members started a petition to create “Aliayah's Law,” so an alert could go out without vehicle information. The police plan to use the advisory for all cases that do not meet the AMBER Alert criteria.