IC 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 665 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 5, 2015 

Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

AN ACT 

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, is missing in connection with the officer’s official duties, or an imminent 

and credible threat that an individual intends to cause 

the serious injury or death of a law enforcement officer 

is received, and for other purposes. 


ebenthall on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

S 665 RFH 

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 ‘‘Rafael Ramos and 

5 Wenjian Liu National Blue Alert Act of 2015’’. 

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 sent through the network relat13 ing to— 

14 (A) the serious injury or death of a law en15 forcement officer in the line of duty; 

16 (B) an officer who is missing in connection 

17 with the officer’s official duties; or 

18 (C) an imminent and credible threat that 

19 an individual intends to cause the serious injury 

20 or death of a law enforcement officer. 

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

22 plan’’ means the plan of a State, unit of local gov23 ernment, or Federal agency participating in the net24 work for the dissemination of information received 

25 as a Blue Alert. 


ebenthall on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

S 665 RFH 

1 (4) LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER.—The term 

2 ‘‘law enforcement officer’’ shall have the same mean3 ing as in section 1204 of the Omnibus Crime Con4 trol and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 

5 3796b). 

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

7 the Blue Alert communications network established 

8 by the Attorney General under section 3. 

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

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

11 the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American 

12 Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern 

13 Mariana Islands. 

14 SEC. 3. BLUE ALERT COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK. 

15 The Attorney General shall establish a national Blue 

16 Alert communications network within the Department of 

17 Justice to issue Blue Alerts through the initiation, facilita18 tion, and promotion of Blue Alert plans, in coordination 

19 with States, units of local government, law enforcement 

20 agencies, and other appropriate entities. 

21 SEC. 4. BLUE ALERT COORDINATOR; GUIDELINES. 

22 (a) COORDINATION WITHIN DEPARTMENT OF JUS23 TICE.—The Attorney General shall assign an existing offi24 cer of the Department of Justice to act as the national 

25 coordinator of the Blue Alert communications network. 


ebenthall on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

S 665 RFH 

1 (b) DUTIES OF THE COORDINATOR.—The Coordi2 nator shall— 

3 (1) provide assistance to States and units of 

4 local government that are using Blue Alert plans; 

5 (2) establish voluntary guidelines for States and 

6 units of local government to use in developing Blue 

7 Alert plans that will promote compatible and inte8 grated Blue Alert plans throughout the United 

9 States, including— 

10 (A) a list of the resources necessary to es11 tablish a Blue Alert plan; 

12 (B) criteria for evaluating whether a situa13 tion warrants issuing a Blue Alert; 

14 (C) guidelines to protect the privacy, dig15 nity, independence, and autonomy of any law 

16 enforcement officer who may be the subject of 

17 a Blue Alert and the family of the law enforce18 ment officer; 

19 (D) guidelines that a Blue Alert should 

20 only be issued with respect to a law enforce21 ment officer if— 

22 (i) the law enforcement agency in23 volved— 

24 (I) confirms— 


ebenthall on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

S 665 RFH 

1 (aa) the death or serious in2 jury of the law enforcement offi3 cer; or 

4 (bb) the attack on the law 

5 enforcement officer and that 

6 there is an indication of the 

7 death or serious injury of the of8 ficer; or 

9 (II) concludes that the law en10 forcement officer is missing in connec11 tion with the officer’s official duties; 

12 (ii) there is an indication of serious 

13 injury to or death of the law enforcement 

14 officer; 

15 (iii) the suspect involved has not been 

16 apprehended; and 

17 (iv) there is sufficient descriptive in18 formation of the suspect involved and any 

19 relevant vehicle and tag numbers; 

20 (E) guidelines that a Blue Alert should 

21 only be issued with respect to a threat to cause 

22 death or serious injury to a law enforcement of23 ficer if— 


ebenthall on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

S 665 RFH 

1 (i) a law enforcement agency involved 

2 confirms that the threat is imminent and 

3 credible; 

4 (ii) at the time of receipt of the 

5 threat, the suspect is wanted by a law en6 forcement agency; 

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 (F) guidelines— 

13 (i) that information should be pro14 vided to the National Crime Information 

15 Center database operated by the Federal 

16 Bureau of Investigation under section 534 

17 of title 28, United States Code, and any 

18 relevant crime information repository of 

19 the State involved, relating to— 

20 (I) a law enforcement officer who 

21 is seriously injured or killed in the 

22 line of duty; or 

23 (II) an imminent and credible 

24 threat to cause the serious injury or 

25 death of a law enforcement officer; 


ebenthall on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

S 665 RFH 

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 (G) 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; 


ebenthall on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
8 

S 665 RFH 

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— 


ebenthall on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
9 

S 665 RFH 

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— 

22 (i) a law enforcement officer is killed 

23 or seriously injured in the line of duty; 


ebenthall on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
10 

S 665 RFH 

1 (ii) a law enforcement officer is miss2 ing in connection with the officer’s official 

3 duties; and 

4 (iii) an imminent and credible threat 

5 to kill or seriously injure a law enforce6 ment officer is received; and 

7 (B) which of the procedures and practices 

8 are effective and that do not require the ex9 penditure of additional resources to implement. 

10 (c) LIMITATIONS.— 

11 (1) VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION.—The guide12 lines established under subsection (b)(2), protocols 

13 developed under subsection (b)(3), and other pro14 grams established under subsection (b), shall not be 

15 mandatory. 

16 (2) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.—The 

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

18 to the maximum extent practicable (as determined 

19 by the Coordinator in consultation with law enforce20 ment agencies of States and units of local govern21 ment), provide that appropriate information relating 

22 to a Blue Alert is disseminated to the appropriate 

23 officials of law enforcement agencies, public health 

24 agencies, and other agencies. 


ebenthall on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
11 

S 665 RFH 

1 (3) PRIVACY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES PROTEC2 TIONS.—The guidelines established under subsection 

3 (b) shall— 

4 (A) provide mechanisms that ensure that 

5 Blue Alerts comply with all applicable Federal, 

6 State, and local privacy laws and regulations; 

7 and 

8 (B) include standards that specifically pro9 vide for the protection of the civil liberties, in10 cluding the privacy, of law enforcement officers 

11 who are seriously injured or killed in the line of 

12 duty, is missing in connection with the officer’s 

13 official duties, or who are threatened with death 

14 or serious injury, and the families of the offi15 cers. 

16 (d) COOPERATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES.—The 

17 Coordinator shall cooperate with the Secretary of Home18 land Security, the Secretary of Transportation, the Chair19 man of the Federal Communications Commission, and ap20 propriate offices of the Department of Justice in carrying 

21 out activities under this Act. 

22 (e) RESTRICTIONS ON COORDINATOR.—The Coordi23 nator may not— 

24 (1) perform any official travel for the sole pur25 pose of carrying out the duties of the Coordinator; 


ebenthall on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
12 

S 665 RFH 

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

2 funding or implementation of a Blue Alert plan; or 

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

4 Alert program that requires the expenditure of Fed5 eral funds. 

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

7 of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Co8 ordinator shall submit to Congress a report on the activi9 ties of the Coordinator and the effectiveness and status 

10 of the Blue Alert plans that are in effect or being devel11 oped. 

Passed the Senate April 30, 2015. 

Attest: JULIE E. ADAMS, 

Secretary. 


ebenthall on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS