II 

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, and Mr. 

DURBIN) 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 2013’’. 

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) LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER.—The term 

14 ‘‘law enforcement officer’’ shall have the same mean15 ing as in section 1204 of the Omnibus Crime Con16 trol and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 

17 3796b(6)). 

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

19 the Blue Alert communications network established 

20 by the Attorney General under section 3. 

21 (6) 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 existing offi11 cer of the Department of Justice to act as the national 

12 coordinator of the Blue Alert communications network. 

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

15 (1) provide assistance to States and units of 

16 local government that are using 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 a law enforce17 ment organization representing rank-and18 file officers; 

19 (ii) representatives of other law en20 forcement agencies and public safety com21 munications; 

22 (iii) broadcasters, first responders, 

23 dispatchers, and radio station personnel; 

24 and 

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1 (iv) representatives of any other indi2 viduals or organizations that the Coordi3 nator determines are necessary to the suc4 cess of the network; 

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

6 (A) the development of the network; and 

7 (B) regional coordination of Blue Alerts 

8 through the network; and 

9 (7) determine— 

10 (A) what procedures and practices are in 

11 use for notifying law enforcement and the pub12 lic when a law enforcement officer is killed or 

13 seriously injured in the line of duty; and 

14 (B) which of the procedures and practices 

15 are effective and that do not require the ex16 penditure of additional resources to implement. 

17 (c) LIMITATIONS.— 

18 (1) VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION.—The guide19 lines established under subsection (b)(2), protocols 

20 developed under subsection (b)(3), and other pro21 grams established under subsection (b), shall not be 

22 mandatory. 

23 (2) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.—The 

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

25 to the maximum extent practicable (as determined 

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1 by the Coordinator in consultation with law enforce2 ment agencies of States and units of local govern3 ment), provide that appropriate information relating 

4 to a Blue Alert is disseminated to the appropriate 

5 officials of law enforcement agencies, public health 

6 agencies, and other agencies. 

7 (3) PRIVACY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES PROTEC8 TIONS.—The guidelines established under subsection 

9 (b) shall— 

10 (A) provide mechanisms that ensure that 

11 Blue Alerts comply with all applicable Federal, 

12 State, and local privacy laws and regulations; 

13 and 

14 (B) include standards that specifically pro15 vide for the protection of the civil liberties, in16 cluding the privacy, of law enforcement officers 

17 who are seriously injured or killed in the line of 

18 duty and the families of the officers. 

19 (d) COOPERATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES.—The 

20 Coordinator shall cooperate with the Secretary of Home21 land Security, the Secretary of Transportation, the Chair22 man of the Federal Communications Commission, and ap23 propriate offices of the Department of Justice in carrying 

24 out activities under this Act. 

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1 (e) RESTRICTIONS ON COORDINATOR.—The Coordi2 nator may not— 

3 (1) perform any official travel for the sole pur4 pose of carrying out the duties of the Coordinator; 

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

6 funding or implementation of a Blue Alert plan; or 

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

8 Alert program that requires the expenditure of Fed9 eral funds. 

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

11 of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Co12 ordinator shall submit to Congress a report on the activi13 ties of the Coordinator and the effectiveness and status 

14 of the Blue Alert plans that are in effect or being devel15 oped. 

Æ 

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