II 

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, and Mr. WHITEHOUSE) introduced the following bill; which was 

read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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

2 means the Blue Alert Coordinator of the Depart3 ment of Justice designated under section 4(a). 

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

5 means information relating to the serious injury or 

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

7 sent through the network. 

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

9 plan’’ means the plan of a State, unit of local gov10 ernment, or Federal agency participating in the net11 work for the dissemination of information received 

12 as a Blue Alert. 

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

14 the Blue Alert communications network established 

15 by the Attorney General under section 3. 

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

17 the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Com18 monwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin 

19 Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Common20 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. 

21 SEC. 3. BLUE ALERT COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK. 

22 The Attorney General shall establish a national Blue 

23 Alert communications network within the Department of 

24 Justice to issue Blue Alerts through the initiation, facilita25 tion, and promotion of Blue Alert plans, in coordination 


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1 with States, units of local government, law enforcement 

2 agencies, and other appropriate entities. 

3 SEC. 4. BLUE ALERT COORDINATOR; GUIDELINES. 

4 (a) COORDINATION WITHIN DEPARTMENT OF JUS5 TICE.—The Attorney General shall assign an officer of the 

6 Department of Justice to act as the national coordinator 

7 of the Blue Alert communications network. 

8 (b) DUTIES OF THE COORDINATOR.—The Coordi9 nator shall— 

10 (1) encourage States and units of local govern11 ment to develop additional Blue Alert plans; 

12 (2) establish voluntary guidelines for States and 

13 units of local government to use in developing Blue 

14 Alert plans that will promote compatible and inte15 grated Blue Alert plans throughout the United 

16 States, including— 

17 (A) a list of the resources necessary to es18 tablish a Blue Alert plan; 

19 (B) criteria for evaluating whether a situa20 tion warrants issuing a Blue Alert; 

21 (C) guidelines to protect the privacy, dig22 nity, independence, and autonomy of any law 

23 enforcement officer who may be the subject of 

24 a Blue Alert and the family of the law enforce25 ment officer; 


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1 (D) guidelines that a Blue Alert should 

2 only be issued with respect to a law enforce3 ment officer if— 

4 (i) the law enforcement agency in5 volved— 

6 (I) confirms— 

7 (aa) the death or serious in8 jury of the law enforcement offi9 cer; or 

10 (bb) the attack on the law 

11 enforcement officer and that 

12 there is an indication of the 

13 death or serious injury of the of14 ficer; or 

15 (II) concludes that the law en16 forcement officer is missing in the line 

17 of duty; 

18 (ii) there is an indication of serious 

19 injury to or death of the law enforcement 

20 officer; 

21 (iii) the suspect involved has not been 

22 apprehended; and 

23 (iv) there is sufficient descriptive in24 formation of the suspect involved and any 

25 relevant vehicle and tag numbers; 


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1 (E) guidelines— 

2 (i) that information relating to a law 

3 enforcement officer who is seriously in4 jured or killed in the line of duty should be 

5 provided to the National Crime Informa6 tion Center database operated by the Fed7 eral Bureau of Investigation under section 

8 534 of title 28, United States Code, and 

9 any relevant crime information repository 

10 of the State involved; 

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

12 maximum extent practicable (as deter13 mined by the Coordinator in consultation 

14 with law enforcement agencies of States 

15 and units of local governments), be limited 

16 to the geographic areas most likely to fa17 cilitate the apprehension of the suspect in18 volved or which the suspect could reason19 ably reach, which should not be limited to 

20 State lines; 

21 (iii) for law enforcement agencies of 

22 States or units of local government to de23 velop plans to communicate information to 

24 neighboring States to provide for seamless 

25 communication of a Blue Alert; and 


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1 (iv) providing that a Blue Alert 

2 should be suspended when the suspect in3 volved is apprehended or when the law en4 forcement agency involved determines that 

5 the Blue Alert is no longer effective; and 

6 (F) guidelines for— 

7 (i) the issuance of Blue Alerts 

8 through the network; and 

9 (ii) the extent of the dissemination of 

10 alerts issued through the network; 

11 (3) develop protocols for efforts to apprehend 

12 suspects that address activities during the period be13 ginning at the time of the initial notification of a 

14 law enforcement agency that a suspect has not been 

15 apprehended and ending at the time of apprehension 

16 of a suspect or when the law enforcement agency in17 volved determines that the Blue Alert is no longer 

18 effective, including protocols regulating— 

19 (A) the use of public safety communica20 tions; 

21 (B) command center operations; and 

22 (C) incident review, evaluation, debriefing, 

23 and public information procedures; 


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1 (4) work with States to ensure appropriate re2 gional coordination of various elements of the net3 work; 

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

5 units of local government, law enforcement agencies, 

6 and other entities involved in the network with initi7 ating, facilitating, and promoting Blue Alert plans, 

8 which shall include— 

9 (A) to the maximum extent practicable, 

10 representation from the various geographic re11 gions of the United States; and 

12 (B) members who are— 

13 (i) representatives of law enforcement 

14 organizations, law enforcement agencies, 

15 and public safety communications; 

16 (ii) broadcasters, first responders, dis17 patchers, and radio station personnel; and 

18 (iii) representatives of any other indi19 viduals or organizations that the Coordi20 nator determines are necessary to the suc21 cess of the network; and 

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

23 (A) the development of the network; and 

24 (B) regional coordination of Blue Alerts 

25 through the network. 


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

10 of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Co11 ordinator shall submit to Congress a report on the activi12 ties of the Coordinator and the effectiveness and status 

13 of the Blue Alert plans that are in effect or being devel14 oped. 

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

16 PLANS. 

17 Section 1701(b) of title I of the Omnibus Crime Con18 trol and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796dd(b)) 

19 is amended— 

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

21 end; 

22 (2) by redesignating paragraph (17) as para23 graph (18); and 

24 (3) by inserting after paragraph (16) the fol25 lowing: 


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

2 enhancement of programs and activities in support 

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

4 terms are defined in section 2 of the National Blue 

5 Alert Act of 2010), including— 

6 ‘‘(A) developing and implementing edu7 cation and training programs, and associated 

8 materials, relating to Blue Alert plans; 

9 ‘‘(B) developing and implementing law en10 forcement programs, and associated equipment, 

11 relating to Blue Alert plans; and 

12 ‘‘(C) developing and implementing new 

13 technologies to improve the communication of 

14 Blue Alerts; and’’. 

15 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

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

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

18 the end the following: 

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

20 carry out part Q in any fiscal year, $10,000,000 is author21 ized to be appropriated for grants for the purposes de22 scribed in section 1701(b)(17). 

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

24 shall remain available until expended.’’. 

Æ 


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