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Calendar No. 194 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 357 

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 

FEBRUARY 14, 2013 

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

BOXER, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Ms. HEITKAMP, Mr. 

DURBIN, Mr. BROWN, Ms. WARREN, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. COONS, Mr. 

MERKLEY, Mr. NELSON, Mr. PORTMAN, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. FRANKEN, 

and Mr. SCHUMER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice 

and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

SEPTEMBER 19, 2013 

Reported by Mr. LEAHY, without amendment 

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 2013’’. 

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) LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER.—The term 

19 ‘‘law enforcement officer’’ shall have the same mean20 ing as in section 1204 of the Omnibus Crime Con21 trol and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 

22 3796b(6)). 

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

24 the Blue Alert communications network established 

25 by the Attorney General under section 3. 


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

2 the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Com3 monwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin 

4 Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Common5 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. 

6 SEC. 3. BLUE ALERT COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK. 

7 The Attorney General shall establish a national Blue 

8 Alert communications network within the Department of 

9 Justice to issue Blue Alerts through the initiation, facilita10 tion, and promotion of Blue Alert plans, in coordination 

11 with States, units of local government, law enforcement 

12 agencies, and other appropriate entities. 

13 SEC. 4. BLUE ALERT COORDINATOR; GUIDELINES. 

14 (a) COORDINATION WITHIN DEPARTMENT OF JUS15 TICE.—The Attorney General shall assign an existing offi16 cer of the Department of Justice to act as the national 

17 coordinator of the Blue Alert communications network. 

18 (b) DUTIES OF THE COORDINATOR.—The Coordi19 nator shall— 

20 (1) provide assistance to States and units of 

21 local government that are using Blue Alert plans; 

22 (2) establish voluntary guidelines for States and 

23 units of local government to use in developing Blue 

24 Alert plans that will promote compatible and inteVerDate Mar 15 2010 21:42 Sep 19, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S357.RS S357

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1 grated Blue Alert plans throughout the United 

2 States, including— 

3 (A) a list of the resources necessary to es4 tablish a Blue Alert plan; 

5 (B) criteria for evaluating whether a situa6 tion warrants issuing a Blue Alert; 

7 (C) guidelines to protect the privacy, dig8 nity, independence, and autonomy of any law 

9 enforcement officer who may be the subject of 

10 a Blue Alert and the family of the law enforce11 ment officer; 

12 (D) guidelines that a Blue Alert should 

13 only be issued with respect to a law enforce14 ment officer if— 

15 (i) the law enforcement agency in16 volved— 

17 (I) confirms— 

18 (aa) the death or serious in19 jury of the law enforcement offi20 cer; or 

21 (bb) the attack on the law 

22 enforcement officer and that 

23 there is an indication of the 

24 death or serious injury of the of25 ficer; or 


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1 (II) concludes that the law en2 forcement officer is missing in the line 

3 of duty; 

4 (ii) there is an indication of serious 

5 injury to or death of the law enforcement 

6 officer; 

7 (iii) the suspect involved has not been 

8 apprehended; and 

9 (iv) there is sufficient descriptive in10 formation of the suspect involved and any 

11 relevant vehicle and tag numbers; 

12 (E) guidelines— 

13 (i) that information relating to a law 

14 enforcement officer who is seriously in15 jured or killed in the line of duty should be 

16 provided to the National Crime Informa17 tion Center database operated by the Fed18 eral Bureau of Investigation under section 

19 534 of title 28, United States Code, and 

20 any relevant crime information repository 

21 of the State involved; 

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

23 maximum extent practicable (as deter24 mined by the Coordinator in consultation 

25 with law enforcement agencies of States 


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1 and units of local governments), be limited 

2 to the geographic areas most likely to fa3 cilitate the apprehension of the suspect in4 volved or which the suspect could reason5 ably reach, which should not be limited to 

6 State lines; 

7 (iii) for law enforcement agencies of 

8 States or units of local government to de9 velop plans to communicate information to 

10 neighboring States to provide for seamless 

11 communication of a Blue Alert; and 

12 (iv) providing that a Blue Alert 

13 should be suspended when the suspect in14 volved is apprehended or when the law en15 forcement agency involved determines that 

16 the Blue Alert is no longer effective; and 

17 (F) guidelines for— 

18 (i) the issuance of Blue Alerts 

19 through the network; and 

20 (ii) the extent of the dissemination of 

21 alerts issued through the network; 

22 (3) develop protocols for efforts to apprehend 

23 suspects that address activities during the period be24 ginning at the time of the initial notification of a 

25 law enforcement agency that a suspect has not been 


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1 apprehended and ending at the time of apprehension 

2 of a suspect or when the law enforcement agency in3 volved determines that the Blue Alert is no longer 

4 effective, including protocols regulating— 

5 (A) the use of public safety communica6 tions; 

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, 

19 representation from the various geographic re20 gions of the United States; and 

21 (B) members who are— 

22 (i) representatives of a law enforce23 ment organization representing rank-and24 file officers; 


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

4 (iii) broadcasters, first responders, 

5 dispatchers, and radio station personnel; 

6 and 

7 (iv) representatives of any other indi8 viduals or organizations that the Coordi9 nator determines are necessary to the suc10 cess of the network; 

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

12 (A) the development of the network; and 

13 (B) regional coordination of Blue Alerts 

14 through the network; and 

15 (7) determine— 

16 (A) what procedures and practices are in 

17 use for notifying law enforcement and the pub18 lic when a law enforcement officer is killed or 

19 seriously injured in the line of duty; and 

20 (B) which of the procedures and practices 

21 are effective and that do not require the ex22 penditure of additional resources to implement. 

23 (c) LIMITATIONS.— 

24 (1) VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION.—The guide25 lines established under subsection (b)(2), protocols 


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1 developed under subsection (b)(3), and other pro2 grams established under subsection (b), shall not be 

3 mandatory. 

4 (2) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.—The 

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

6 to the maximum extent practicable (as determined 

7 by the Coordinator in consultation with law enforce8 ment agencies of States and units of local govern9 ment), provide that appropriate information relating 

10 to a Blue Alert is disseminated to the appropriate 

11 officials of law enforcement agencies, public health 

12 agencies, and other agencies. 

13 (3) PRIVACY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES PROTEC14 TIONS.—The guidelines established under subsection 

15 (b) shall— 

16 (A) provide mechanisms that ensure that 

17 Blue Alerts comply with all applicable Federal, 

18 State, and local privacy laws and regulations; 

19 and 

20 (B) include standards that specifically pro21 vide for the protection of the civil liberties, in22 cluding the privacy, of law enforcement officers 

23 who are seriously injured or killed in the line of 

24 duty and the families of the officers. 


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1 (d) COOPERATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES.—The 

2 Coordinator shall cooperate with the Secretary of Home3 land Security, the Secretary of Transportation, the Chair4 man of the Federal Communications Commission, and ap5 propriate offices of the Department of Justice in carrying 

6 out activities under this Act. 

7 (e) RESTRICTIONS ON COORDINATOR.—The Coordi8 nator may not— 

9 (1) perform any official travel for the sole pur10 pose of carrying out the duties of the Coordinator; 

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

12 funding or implementation of a Blue Alert plan; or 

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

14 Alert program that requires the expenditure of Fed15 eral funds. 

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

17 of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Co18 ordinator shall submit to Congress a report on the activi19 ties of the Coordinator and the effectiveness and status 

20 of the Blue Alert plans that are in effect or being devel21 oped. 


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Calendar No. 194 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 357 

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 19, 2013 

Reported without amendment 


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