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Union Calendar No. 32 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 180 

[Report No. 113–54] 

To encourage, enhance, and integrate Blue Alert plans throughout the United 

States in order to disseminate information when a law enforcement 

officer is seriously injured or killed in the line of duty. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 4, 2013 

Mr. GRIMM (for himself, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. REICHERT, and Mr. PIERLUISI) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the 

Judiciary 

MAY 14, 2013 

Additional sponsors: Mr. LOBIONDO, Mr. COOPER, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. KING

of New York, Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio, Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee, Mr. 

MAFFEI, Mr. RANGEL, Ms. GABBARD, Mr. CONYERS, and Mr. POE of 

Texas 

MAY 14, 2013 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union 

and ordered to be printed 

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A BILL 

To encourage, enhance, and integrate Blue Alert plans 

throughout the United States in order to disseminate 

information when a law enforcement officer is seriously 

injured or killed in the line of duty. 

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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Blue Alert 

5 Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) COORDINATOR.—The term ‘‘Coordinator’’ 

9 means the Blue Alert Coordinator of the Depart10 ment of Justice designated under section 4(a). 

11 (2) BLUE ALERT.—The term ‘‘Blue Alert’’ 

12 means information relating to the serious injury or 

13 death of a law enforcement officer in the line of duty 

14 sent through the network. 

15 (3) BLUE ALERT PLAN.—The term ‘‘Blue Alert 

16 plan’’ means the plan of a State, unit of local gov17 ernment, or Federal agency participating in the net18 work for the dissemination of information received 

19 as a Blue Alert. 

20 (4) LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER.—The term 

21 ‘‘law enforcement officer’’ shall have the same mean22 ing as in section 1204 of the Omnibus Crime Con23 trol and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 

24 3796b(6)). 

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1 (5) NETWORK.—The term ‘‘network’’ means 

2 the Blue Alert communications network established 

3 by the Attorney General under section 3. 

4 (6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 

5 the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, 

6 the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American 

7 Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern 

8 Mariana Islands. 

9 SEC. 3. BLUE ALERT COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK. 

10 The Attorney General shall establish a national Blue 

11 Alert communications network within the Department of 

12 Justice to issue Blue Alerts through the initiation, facilita13 tion, and promotion of Blue Alert plans, in coordination 

14 with States, units of local government, law enforcement 

15 agencies, and other appropriate entities. 

16 SEC. 4. BLUE ALERT COORDINATOR; GUIDELINES. 

17 (a) COORDINATION WITHIN DEPARTMENT OF JUS18 TICE.—The Attorney General shall assign an existing offi19 cer of the Department of Justice to act as the national 

20 coordinator of the Blue Alert communications network. 

21 (b) DUTIES OF THE COORDINATOR.—The Coordi22 nator shall— 

23 (1) provide assistance to States and units of 

24 local government that are using Blue Alert plans; 

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1 (2) establish voluntary guidelines for States and 

2 units of local government to use in developing Blue 

3 Alert plans that will promote compatible and inte4 grated Blue Alert plans throughout the United 

5 States, including— 

6 (A) a list of the resources necessary to es7 tablish a Blue Alert plan; 

8 (B) criteria for evaluating whether a situa9 tion warrants issuing a Blue Alert; 

10 (C) guidelines to protect the privacy, dig11 nity, independence, and autonomy of any law 

12 enforcement officer who may be the subject of 

13 a Blue Alert and the family of the law enforce14 ment officer; 

15 (D) guidelines that a Blue Alert should 

16 only be issued with respect to a law enforce17 ment officer if— 

18 (i) the law enforcement agency in19 volved— 

20 (I) confirms— 

21 (aa) the death or serious in22 jury of the law enforcement offi23 cer; or 

24 (bb) the attack on the law 

25 enforcement officer and that 

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1 there is an indication of the 

2 death or serious injury of the of3 ficer; or 

4 (II) concludes that the law en5 forcement officer is missing in the line 

6 of duty; 

7 (ii) there is an indication of serious 

8 injury to or death of the law enforcement 

9 officer; 

10 (iii) the suspect involved has not been 

11 apprehended; and 

12 (iv) there is sufficient descriptive in13 formation of the suspect involved and any 

14 relevant vehicle and tag numbers; 

15 (E) guidelines— 

16 (i) that information relating to a law 

17 enforcement officer who is seriously in18 jured or killed in the line of duty should be 

19 provided to the National Crime Informa20 tion Center database operated by the Fed21 eral Bureau of Investigation under section 

22 534 of title 28, United States Code, and 

23 any relevant crime information repository 

24 of the State involved; 

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1 (ii) that a Blue Alert should, to the 

2 maximum extent practicable (as deter3 mined by the Coordinator in consultation 

4 with law enforcement agencies of States 

5 and units of local governments), be limited 

6 to the geographic areas most likely to fa7 cilitate the apprehension of the suspect in8 volved or which the suspect could reason9 ably reach, which should not be limited to 

10 State lines; 

11 (iii) for law enforcement agencies of 

12 States or units of local government to de13 velop plans to communicate information to 

14 neighboring States to provide for seamless 

15 communication of a Blue Alert; and 

16 (iv) providing that a Blue Alert 

17 should be suspended when the suspect in18 volved is apprehended or when the law en19 forcement agency involved determines that 

20 the Blue Alert is no longer effective; and 

21 (F) guidelines for— 

22 (i) the issuance of Blue Alerts 

23 through the network; and 

24 (ii) the extent of the dissemination of 

25 alerts issued through the network; 

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1 (3) develop protocols for efforts to apprehend 

2 suspects that address activities during the period be3 ginning at the time of the initial notification of a 

4 law enforcement agency that a suspect has not been 

5 apprehended and ending at the time of apprehension 

6 of a suspect or when the law enforcement agency in7 volved determines that the Blue Alert is no longer 

8 effective, including protocols regulating— 

9 (A) the use of public safety communica10 tions; 

11 (B) command center operations; and 

12 (C) incident review, evaluation, debriefing, 

13 and public information procedures; 

14 (4) work with States to ensure appropriate re15 gional coordination of various elements of the net16 work; 

17 (5) establish an advisory group to assist States, 

18 units of local government, law enforcement agencies, 

19 and other entities involved in the network with initi20 ating, facilitating, and promoting Blue Alert plans, 

21 which shall include— 

22 (A) to the maximum extent practicable, 

23 representation from the various geographic re24 gions of the United States; and 

25 (B) members who are— 

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1 (i) representatives of a law enforce2 ment organization representing rank-and3 file officers; 

4 (ii) representatives of other law en5 forcement agencies and public safety com6 munications; 

7 (iii) broadcasters, first responders, 

8 dispatchers, and radio station personnel; 

9 and 

10 (iv) representatives of any other indi11 viduals or organizations that the Coordi12 nator determines are necessary to the suc13 cess of the network; 

14 (6) act as the nationwide point of contact for— 

15 (A) the development of the network; and 

16 (B) regional coordination of Blue Alerts 

17 through the network; and 

18 (7) determine— 

19 (A) what procedures and practices are in 

20 use for notifying law enforcement and the pub21 lic when a law enforcement officer is killed or 

22 seriously injured in the line of duty; and 

23 (B) which of the procedures and practices 

24 are effective and that do not require the ex25 penditure of additional resources to implement. 

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1 (c) LIMITATIONS.— 

2 (1) VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION.—The guide3 lines established under subsection (b)(2), protocols 

4 developed under subsection (b)(3), and other pro5 grams established under subsection (b), shall not be 

6 mandatory. 

7 (2) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.—The 

8 guidelines established under subsection (b)(2) shall, 

9 to the maximum extent practicable (as determined 

10 by the Coordinator in consultation with law enforce11 ment agencies of States and units of local govern12 ment), provide that appropriate information relating 

13 to a Blue Alert is disseminated to the appropriate 

14 officials of law enforcement agencies, public health 

15 agencies, and other agencies. 

16 (3) PRIVACY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES PROTEC17 TIONS.—The guidelines established under subsection 

18 (b) shall— 

19 (A) provide mechanisms that ensure that 

20 Blue Alerts comply with all applicable Federal, 

21 State, and local privacy laws and regulations; 

22 and 

23 (B) include standards that specifically pro24 vide for the protection of the civil liberties, in25 cluding the privacy, of law enforcement officers 

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1 who are seriously injured or killed in the line of 

2 duty and the families of the officers. 

3 (d) COOPERATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES.—The 

4 Coordinator shall cooperate with the Secretary of Home5 land Security, the Secretary of Transportation, the Chair6 man of the Federal Communications Commission, and ap7 propriate offices of the Department of Justice in carrying 

8 out activities under this Act. 

9 (e) RESTRICTIONS ON COORDINATOR.—The Coordi10 nator may not— 

11 (1) perform any official travel for the sole pur12 pose of carrying out the duties of the Coordinator; 

13 (2) lobby any officer of a State regarding the 

14 funding or implementation of a Blue Alert plan; or 

15 (3) host a conference focused solely on the Blue 

16 Alert program that requires the expenditure of Fed17 eral funds. 

18 (f) REPORTS.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

19 of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Co20 ordinator shall submit to Congress a report on the activi21 ties of the Coordinator and the effectiveness and status 

22 of the Blue Alert plans that are in effect or being devel23 oped. 

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Union Calendar No. 32 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 180 

[Report No. 113–54] 

A BILL 

To encourage, enhance, and integrate Blue Alert 

duty. officer is seriously injured or killed in the line of disseminate information when a law enforcement plans throughout the United States in order to 

MAY 14, 2013 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 

State of the Union and ordered to be printed 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS