II 

Calendar No. 160 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 657 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 28, 2011 

Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. LEAHY, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. 

COONS, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. KYL, Mr. BROWN of 

Ohio, and Mr. PORTMAN) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

SEPTEMBER 8, 2011 

Reported by Mr. LEAHY, with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

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. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

3 Act of 2011’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act: 

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

7 means the Blue Alert Coordinator of the Depart8 ment of Justice designated under section 4(a). 

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

10 means information relating to the serious injury or 

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

12 sent through the network. 

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

14 plan’’ means the plan of a State, unit of local gov15 ernment, or Federal agency participating in the net16 work for the dissemination of information received 

17 as a Blue Alert. 

18 (4) NETWORK.—The term ‘‘network’’ means 

19 the Blue Alert communications network established 

20 by the Attorney General under section 3. 

21 (5) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 

22 the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Com23 monwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin 

24 Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Common25 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. 


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1 SEC. 3. BLUE ALERT COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK. 

2 The Attorney General shall establish a national Blue 

3 Alert communications network within the Department of 

4 Justice to issue Blue Alerts through the initiation, facilita5 tion, and promotion of Blue Alert plans, in coordination 

6 with States, units of local government, law enforcement 

7 agencies, and other appropriate entities. 

8 SEC. 4. BLUE ALERT COORDINATOR; GUIDELINES. 

9 (a) COORDINATION WITHIN DEPARTMENT OF JUS10 TICE.—The Attorney General shall assign an officer of the 

11 Department of Justice to act as the national coordinator 

12 of the Blue Alert communications network. 

13 (b) DUTIES OF THE COORDINATOR.—The Coordi14 nator shall— 

15 (1) encourage States and units of local govern16 ment to develop additional Blue Alert plans; 

17 (2) establish voluntary guidelines for States and 

18 units of local government to use in developing Blue 

19 Alert plans that will promote compatible and inte20 grated Blue Alert plans throughout the United 

21 States, including— 

22 (A) a list of the resources necessary to es23 tablish a Blue Alert plan; 

24 (B) criteria for evaluating whether a situa25 tion warrants issuing a Blue Alert; 


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1 (C) guidelines to protect the privacy, dig2 nity, independence, and autonomy of any law 

3 enforcement officer who may be the subject of 

4 a Blue Alert and the family of the law enforce5 ment officer; 

6 (D) guidelines that a Blue Alert should 

7 only be issued with respect to a law enforce8 ment officer if— 

9 (i) the law enforcement agency in10 volved— 

11 (I) confirms— 

12 (aa) the death or serious in13 jury of the law enforcement offi14 cer; or 

15 (bb) the attack on the law 

16 enforcement officer and that 

17 there is an indication of the 

18 death or serious injury of the of19 ficer; or 

20 (II) concludes that the law en21 forcement officer is missing in the line 

22 of duty; 

23 (ii) there is an indication of serious 

24 injury to or death of the law enforcement 

25 officer; 


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1 (iii) the suspect involved has not been 

2 apprehended; and 

3 (iv) there is sufficient descriptive in4 formation of the suspect involved and any 

5 relevant vehicle and tag numbers; 

6 (E) guidelines— 

7 (i) that information relating to a law 

8 enforcement officer who is seriously in9 jured or killed in the line of duty should be 

10 provided to the National Crime Informa11 tion Center database operated by the Fed12 eral Bureau of Investigation under section 

13 534 of title 28, United States Code, and 

14 any relevant crime information repository 

15 of the State involved; 

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

17 maximum extent practicable (as deter18 mined by the Coordinator in consultation 

19 with law enforcement agencies of States 

20 and units of local governments), be limited 

21 to the geographic areas most likely to fa22 cilitate the apprehension of the suspect in23 volved or which the suspect could reason24 ably reach, which should not be limited to 

25 State lines; 


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1 (iii) for law enforcement agencies of 

2 States or units of local government to de3 velop plans to communicate information to 

4 neighboring States to provide for seamless 

5 communication of a Blue Alert; and 

6 (iv) providing that a Blue Alert 

7 should be suspended when the suspect in8 volved is apprehended or when the law en9 forcement agency involved determines that 

10 the Blue Alert is no longer effective; and 

11 (F) guidelines for— 

12 (i) the issuance of Blue Alerts 

13 through the network; and 

14 (ii) the extent of the dissemination of 

15 alerts issued through the network; 

16 (3) develop protocols for efforts to apprehend 

17 suspects that address activities during the period be18 ginning at the time of the initial notification of a 

19 law enforcement agency that a suspect has not been 

20 apprehended and ending at the time of apprehension 

21 of a suspect or when the law enforcement agency in22 volved determines that the Blue Alert is no longer 

23 effective, including protocols regulating— 

24 (A) the use of public safety communica25 tions; 


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1 (B) command center operations; and 

2 (C) incident review, evaluation, debriefing, 

3 and public information procedures; 

4 (4) work with States to ensure appropriate re5 gional coordination of various elements of the net6 work; 

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

8 units of local government, law enforcement agencies, 

9 and other entities involved in the network with initi10 ating, facilitating, and promoting Blue Alert plans, 

11 which shall include— 

12 (A) to the maximum extent practicable, 

13 representation from the various geographic re14 gions of the United States; and 

15 (B) members who are— 

16 (i) representatives of law enforcement 

17 organizations, law enforcement agencies, 

18 and public safety communications; 

19 (ii) broadcasters, first responders, dis20 patchers, and radio station personnel; and 

21 (iii) representatives of any other indi22 viduals or organizations that the Coordi23 nator determines are necessary to the suc24 cess of the network; and 

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


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1 (A) the development of the network; and 

2 (B) regional coordination of Blue Alerts 

3 through the network. 

4 (c) LIMITATIONS.— 

5 (1) VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION.—The guide6 lines established under subsection (b)(2), protocols 

7 developed under subsection (b)(3), and other pro8 grams established under subsection (b), shall not be 

9 mandatory. 

10 (2) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.—The 

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

12 to the maximum extent practicable (as determined 

13 by the Coordinator in consultation with law enforce14 ment agencies of States and units of local govern15 ment), provide that appropriate information relating 

16 to a Blue Alert is disseminated to the appropriate 

17 officials of law enforcement agencies, public health 

18 agencies, and other agencies. 

19 (3) PRIVACY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES PROTEC20 TIONS.—The guidelines established under subsection 

21 (b) shall— 

22 (A) provide mechanisms that ensure that 

23 Blue Alerts comply with all applicable Federal, 

24 State, and local privacy laws and regulations; 

25 and 


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1 (B) include standards that specifically pro2 vide for the protection of the civil liberties, in3 cluding the privacy, of law enforcement officers 

4 who are seriously injured or killed in the line of 

5 duty and the families of the officers. 

6 (d) COOPERATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES.—The 

7 Coordinator shall cooperate with the Secretary of Home8 land Security, the Secretary of Transportation, the Chair9 man of the Federal Communications Commission, and ap10 propriate offices of the Department of Justice in carrying 

11 out activities under this Act. 

12 (e) REPORTS.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

13 of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Co14 ordinator shall submit to Congress a report on the activi15 ties of the Coordinator and the effectiveness and status 

16 of the Blue Alert plans that are in effect or being devel17 oped. 

18 SEC. 5. GRANT PROGRAM FOR SUPPORT OF BLUE ALERT 

19 PLANS. 

20 Section 1701(b) of title I of the Omnibus Crime Con21 trol and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796dd(b)) 

22 is amended— 

23 (1) in paragraph (16), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

24 end; 


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1 (2) by redesignating paragraph (17) as para2 graph (18); and 

3 (3) by inserting after paragraph (16) the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(17) to assist a State in the development or 

6 enhancement of programs and activities in support 

7 of a Blue Alert plan and the network (as those 

8 terms are defined in section 2 of the National Blue 

9 Alert Act of 2010), including— 

10 ‘‘(A) developing and implementing edu11 cation and training programs, and associated 

12 materials, relating to Blue Alert plans; 

13 ‘‘(B) developing and implementing law en14 forcement programs, and associated equipment, 

15 relating to Blue Alert plans; and 

16 ‘‘(C) developing and implementing new 

17 technologies to improve the communication of 

18 Blue Alerts; and’’. 

19 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

20 Section 1001(a)(11) of the Omnibus Crime Control 

21 and Safe Streets Act of 1968 is amended by adding at 

22 the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(C)(i) Of amounts authorized to be appropriated to 

24 carry out part Q in any fiscal year, $10,000,000 is authorVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:45 Sep 08, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S657.RS S657

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1 ized to be appropriated for grants for the purposes de2 scribed in section 1701(b)(17). 

3 ‘‘(ii) Amounts appropriated pursuant to clause (i) 

4 shall remain available until expended.’’. 

5 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

7 of 2011’’. 

8 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

9 In this Act: 

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

11 means the Blue Alert Coordinator of the Department 

12 of Justice designated under section 4(a). 

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

14 information relating to the serious injury or death of 

15 a law enforcement officer in the line of duty sent 

16 through the network. 

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

18 plan’’ means the plan of a State, unit of local govern19 ment, or Federal agency participating in the network 

20 for the dissemination of information received as a 

21 Blue Alert. 

22 (4) LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER.—The term 

23 ‘‘law enforcement officer’’ shall have the same mean24 ing as in section 1204 of the Omnibus Crime Control 

25 and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796b(6)). 


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

2 Blue Alert communications network established by the 

3 Attorney General under section 3. 

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

5 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Common6 wealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Is7 lands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Common8 wealth of the Northern 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 coor20 dinator of the Blue Alert communications network. 

21 (b) DUTIES OF THE COORDINATOR.—The Coordinator 

22 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 States, 

5 including— 

6 (A) a list of the resources necessary to estab7 lish 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 a 

13 Blue Alert and the family of the law enforcement 

14 officer; 

15 (D) guidelines that a Blue Alert should only 

16 be issued with respect to a law enforcement offi17 cer 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 en25 forcement officer and that there is 


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1 an indication of the death or seri2 ous injury of the officer; or 

3 (II) concludes that the law en4 forcement officer is missing in the line 

5 of duty; 

6 (ii) there is an indication of serious 

7 injury to or death of the law enforcement of8 ficer; 

9 (iii) the suspect involved has not been 

10 apprehended; and 

11 (iv) there is sufficient descriptive infor12 mation of the suspect involved and any rel13 evant vehicle and tag numbers; 

14 (E) guidelines— 

15 (i) that information relating to a law 

16 enforcement officer who is seriously injured 

17 or killed in the line of duty should be pro18 vided to the National Crime Information 

19 Center database operated by the Federal 

20 Bureau of Investigation under section 534 

21 of title 28, United States Code, and any rel22 evant crime information repository of the 

23 State involved; 

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

25 maximum extent practicable (as determined 


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1 by the Coordinator in consultation with law 

2 enforcement agencies of States and units of 

3 local governments), be limited to the geo4 graphic areas most likely to facilitate the 

5 apprehension of the suspect involved or 

6 which the suspect could reasonably reach, 

7 which should not be limited to State lines; 

8 (iii) for law enforcement agencies of 

9 States or units of local government to de10 velop plans to communicate information to 

11 neighboring States to provide for seamless 

12 communication of a Blue Alert; and 

13 (iv) providing that a Blue Alert should 

14 be suspended when the suspect involved is 

15 apprehended or when the law enforcement 

16 agency involved determines that the Blue 

17 Alert is no longer effective; and 

18 (F) guidelines for— 

19 (i) the issuance of Blue Alerts through 

20 the network; and 

21 (ii) the extent of the dissemination of 

22 alerts issued through the network; 

23 (3) develop protocols for efforts to apprehend sus24 pects that address activities during the period begin25 ning at the time of the initial notification of a law 


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1 enforcement agency that a suspect has not been appre2 hended and ending at the time of apprehension of a 

3 suspect or when the law enforcement agency involved 

4 determines that the Blue Alert is no longer effective, 

5 including protocols regulating— 

6 (A) the use of public safety communications; 

7 (B) command center operations; and 

8 (C) incident review, evaluation, debriefing, 

9 and public information procedures; 

10 (4) work with States to ensure appropriate re11 gional coordination of various elements of the net12 work; 

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

14 units of local government, law enforcement agencies, 

15 and other entities involved in the network with initi16 ating, facilitating, and promoting Blue Alert plans, 

17 which shall include— 

18 (A) to the maximum extent practicable, rep19 resentation from the various geographic regions 

20 of the United States; and 

21 (B) members who are— 

22 (i) representatives of a law enforcement 

23 organization representing rank-and-file offi24 cers; 


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1 (ii) representatives of other law en2 forcement agencies and public safety com3 munications; 

4 (iii) broadcasters, first responders, dis5 patchers, and radio station personnel; and 

6 (iv) representatives of any other indi7 viduals or organizations that the Coordi8 nator determines are necessary to the suc9 cess of the network; 

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

11 (A) the development of the network; and 

12 (B) regional coordination of Blue Alerts 

13 through the network; and 

14 (7) determine— 

15 (A) what procedures and practices are in 

16 use for notifying law enforcement and the public 

17 when a law enforcement officer is killed or seri18 ously injured in the line of duty; and 

19 (B) which of the procedures and practices 

20 are effective and that do not require the expendi21 ture of additional resources to implement. 

22 (c) LIMITATIONS.— 

23 (1) VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION.—The guidelines 

24 established under subsection (b)(2), protocols devel25 oped under subsection (b)(3), and other programs esVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:45 Sep 08, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S657.RS S657

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1 tablished under subsection (b), shall not be manda2 tory. 

3 (2) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.—The 

4 guidelines established under subsection (b)(2) shall, to 

5 the maximum extent practicable (as determined by 

6 the Coordinator in consultation with law enforcement 

7 agencies of States and units of local government), 

8 provide that appropriate information relating to a 

9 Blue Alert is disseminated to the appropriate officials 

10 of law enforcement agencies, public health agencies, 

11 and other agencies. 

12 (3) PRIVACY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES PROTEC13 TIONS.—The guidelines established under subsection 

14 (b) shall— 

15 (A) provide mechanisms that ensure that 

16 Blue Alerts comply with all applicable Federal, 

17 State, and local privacy laws and regulations; 

18 and 

19 (B) include standards that specifically pro20 vide for the protection of the civil liberties, in21 cluding the privacy, of law enforcement officers 

22 who are seriously injured or killed in the line of 

23 duty and the families of the officers. 

24 (d) COOPERATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES.—The Co25 ordinator shall cooperate with the Secretary of Homeland 


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1 Security, the Secretary of Transportation, the Chairman of 

2 the Federal Communications Commission, and appropriate 

3 offices of the Department of Justice in carrying out activi4 ties under this Act. 

5 (e) RESTRICTIONS ON COORDINATOR.—The Coordi6 nator may not— 

7 (1) perform any official travel for the sole pur8 pose of carrying out the duties of the Coordinator; 

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

10 funding or implementation of a Blue Alert plan; or 

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

12 Alert program that requires the expenditure of Fed13 eral funds. 

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

15 enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Coordi16 nator shall submit to Congress a report on the activities 

17 of the Coordinator and the effectiveness and status of the 

18 Blue Alert plans that are in effect or being developed. 

19 SEC. 5. GRANT PROGRAM FOR SUPPORT OF BLUE ALERT 

20 PLANS. 

21 Section 1701(b) of title I of the Omnibus Crime Con22 trol and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796dd(b)) 

23 is amended— 

24 (1) in paragraph (16), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

25 end; 


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1 (2) by redesignating paragraph (17) as para2 graph (18); and 

3 (3) by inserting after paragraph (16) the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(17) to assist a State in the development or en6 hancement of programs and activities in support of 

7 a Blue Alert plan and the network (as those terms are 

8 defined in section 2 of the National Blue Alert Act of 

9 2011), including— 

10 ‘‘(A) developing and implementing edu11 cation and training programs, and associated 

12 materials, relating to Blue Alert plans; 

13 ‘‘(B) developing and implementing law en14 forcement programs, and associated equipment, 

15 relating to Blue Alert plans; and 

16 ‘‘(C) developing and implementing new 

17 technologies to improve the communication of 

18 Blue Alerts; and.’’. 

19 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

20 Section 1001(a)(11) of the Omnibus Crime Control 

21 and Safe Streets Act of 1968 is amended by adding at the 

22 end the following: 

23 ‘‘(C)(i) Of amounts authorized to be appro24 priated to carry out part Q in any fiscal year, 

25 $10,000,000 is authorized to be appropriated for 


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1 grants for the purposes described in section 

2 1701(b)(17). 

3 ‘‘(ii) Amounts appropriated pursuant to 

4 clause (i) shall remain available until ex5 pended.’’. 


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Calendar No. 160 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 657 

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 

SEPTEMBER 8, 2011 

Reported with an amendment 


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