West Virginia Code Chapter 62. Criminal Procedure § 62-1-6a. Booking photographs of criminal defendants

(a) Except as authorized by the provisions of this section, a law enforcement agency may not share on social media the booking photograph of an individual arrested for the alleged commission of a minor offense.

(b) As used in this section, unless context clearly indicates, otherwise:

“Booking photograph” means a photograph or still, non-video image of an individual taken, generated, or otherwise created by a law enforcement agency pursuant to an arrest or while an individual is in the agency’s lawful custody.

“Law enforcement agency” means any duly authorized state, county, or municipal organization employing one or more persons whose responsibility is the enforcement of laws of the state or any county or municipality of the state: Provided, That the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation and its subordinate organizations may not be considered a law enforcement agency for purposes of this section.

“Social media” means a publicly available Internet-based platform that allows a user to produce, post, or curate content and interact with other users via text, images, video, and audio, for the purpose of informing, sharing, promoting, collaborating, or networking.

“Minor offense” means an offense that:

Is a misdemeanor or nonviolent felony eligible for expungement as provided by § 61-11-26(a) of this code, and not excepted from eligibility for expungement under § 61-11-26(c) of this code: Provided, That, for purposes of this section, offenses under § 17B-4-3 of this code and misdemeanor offenses under § 17C-5-2 of this code, shall be considered minor offenses for purposes of this section.

(c) Exceptions. -- A law enforcement agency may share on social media the booking photograph of an individual arrested for the alleged commission a minor offense, if:

(d) A law-enforcement agency may not be subject to civil action or be held liable when the publication, release, or dissemination of a booking photograph was made by mistake of fact or error, and that publication, release, or dissemination was done in good faith.

(e) A law-enforcement agency that shares on social media a booking photograph of an individual arrested for the suspected commission of any crime shall remove the booking photograph from its social media page within 14 days upon the request of the individual who is the subject of the social media post, or that individual’s authorized representative, if any of the following have occurred: