II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 665 

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. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 4, 2015 

Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. 

DURBIN, Mr. PORTMAN, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. BLUNT, Mr. COONS, Mr. 

HOEVEN, Mrs. BOXER, Mr. WARNER, Ms. HEITKAMP, Mr. BROWN, Mr. 

TILLIS, Mr. CORNYN, Mrs. SHAHEEN, and Mr. MCCONNELL) 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, 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. 

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 ‘‘Rafael Ramos and 

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

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 sent through the network relat11 ing to— 

12 (A) the serious injury or death of a law en13 forcement officer in the line of duty; 

14 (B) an officer who is missing in connection 

15 with the officer’s official duties; or 

16 (C) an imminent and credible threat that 

17 an individual intends to cause the serious injury 

18 or death of a law enforcement officer. 

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

20 plan’’ means the plan of a State, unit of local gov21 ernment, or Federal agency participating in the net22 work for the dissemination of information received 

23 as a Blue Alert. 

24 (4) LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER.—The term 

25 ‘‘law enforcement officer’’ shall have the same mean26 ing as in section 1204 of the Omnibus Crime ConVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Mar 11, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S665.IS S665

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1 trol and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 

2 3796b). 

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

4 the Blue Alert communications network established 

5 by the Attorney General under section 3. 

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

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

8 the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American 

9 Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern 

10 Mariana Islands. 

11 SEC. 3. BLUE ALERT COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK. 

12 The Attorney General shall establish a national Blue 

13 Alert communications network within the Department of 

14 Justice to issue Blue Alerts through the initiation, facilita15 tion, and promotion of Blue Alert plans, in coordination 

16 with States, units of local government, law enforcement 

17 agencies, and other appropriate entities. 

18 SEC. 4. BLUE ALERT COORDINATOR; GUIDELINES. 

19 (a) COORDINATION WITHIN DEPARTMENT OF JUS20 TICE.—The Attorney General shall assign an existing offi21 cer of the Department of Justice to act as the national 

22 coordinator of the Blue Alert communications network. 

23 (b) DUTIES OF THE COORDINATOR.—The Coordi24 nator shall— 


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1 (1) provide assistance to States and units of 

2 local government that are using Blue Alert plans; 

3 (2) establish voluntary guidelines for States and 

4 units of local government to use in developing Blue 

5 Alert plans that will promote compatible and inte6 grated Blue Alert plans throughout the United 

7 States, including— 

8 (A) a list of the resources necessary to es9 tablish a Blue Alert plan; 

10 (B) criteria for evaluating whether a situa11 tion warrants issuing a Blue Alert; 

12 (C) guidelines to protect the privacy, dig13 nity, independence, and autonomy of any law 

14 enforcement officer who may be the subject of 

15 a Blue Alert and the family of the law enforce16 ment officer; 

17 (D) guidelines that a Blue Alert should 

18 only be issued with respect to a law enforce19 ment officer if— 

20 (i) the law enforcement agency in21 volved— 

22 (I) confirms— 

23 (aa) the death or serious in24 jury of the law enforcement offi25 cer; or 


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1 (bb) the attack on the law 

2 enforcement officer and that 

3 there is an indication of the 

4 death or serious injury of the of5 ficer; or 

6 (II) concludes that the law en7 forcement officer is missing in connec8 tion with the officer’s official duties; 

9 (ii) there is an indication of serious 

10 injury to or death of the law enforcement 

11 officer; 

12 (iii) the suspect involved has not been 

13 apprehended; and 

14 (iv) there is sufficient descriptive in15 formation of the suspect involved and any 

16 relevant vehicle and tag numbers; 

17 (E) guidelines that a Blue Alert should 

18 only be issued with respect to a threat to cause 

19 death or serious injury to a law enforcement of20 ficer if— 

21 (i) a law enforcement agency involved 

22 confirms that the threat is imminent and 

23 credible; 


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1 (ii) at the time of receipt of the 

2 threat, the suspect is wanted by a law en3 forcement agency; 

4 (iii) the suspect involved has not been 

5 apprehended; and 

6 (iv) there is sufficient descriptive in7 formation of the suspect involved and any 

8 relevant vehicle and tag numbers; 

9 (F) guidelines— 

10 (i) that information should be pro11 vided to the National Crime Information 

12 Center database operated by the Federal 

13 Bureau of Investigation under section 534 

14 of title 28, United States Code, and any 

15 relevant crime information repository of 

16 the State involved, relating to— 

17 (I) a law enforcement officer who 

18 is seriously injured or killed in the 

19 line of duty; or 

20 (II) an imminent and credible 

21 threat to cause the serious injury or 

22 death of a law enforcement officer; 

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

24 maximum extent practicable (as deter25 mined by the Coordinator in consultation 


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1 with law enforcement agencies of States 

2 and units of local governments), be limited 

3 to the geographic areas most likely to fa4 cilitate the apprehension of the suspect in5 volved or which the suspect could reason6 ably reach, which should not be limited to 

7 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 

14 should be suspended when the suspect in15 volved is apprehended or when the law en16 forcement agency involved determines that 

17 the Blue Alert is no longer effective; and 

18 (G) guidelines for— 

19 (i) the issuance of Blue Alerts 

20 through 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 

24 suspects that address activities during the period be25 ginning at the time of the initial notification of a 


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1 law enforcement agency that a suspect has not been 

2 apprehended and ending at the time of apprehension 

3 of a suspect or when the law enforcement agency in4 volved determines that the Blue Alert is no longer 

5 effective, including protocols regulating— 

6 (A) the use of public safety communica7 tions; 

8 (B) command center operations; and 

9 (C) incident review, evaluation, debriefing, 

10 and public information procedures; 

11 (4) work with States to ensure appropriate re12 gional coordination of various elements of the net13 work; 

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

15 units of local government, law enforcement agencies, 

16 and other entities involved in the network with initi17 ating, facilitating, and promoting Blue Alert plans, 

18 which shall include— 

19 (A) to the maximum extent practicable, 

20 representation from the various geographic re21 gions of the United States; and 

22 (B) members who are— 

23 (i) representatives of a law enforce24 ment organization representing rank-and25 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— 

19 (i) a law enforcement officer is killed 

20 or seriously injured in the line of duty; 

21 (ii) a law enforcement officer is miss22 ing in connection with the officer’s official 

23 duties; and 


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1 (iii) an imminent and credible threat 

2 to kill or seriously injure a law enforce3 ment officer is received; and 

4 (B) which of the procedures and practices 

5 are effective and that do not require the ex6 penditure of additional resources to implement. 

7 (c) LIMITATIONS.— 

8 (1) VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION.—The guide9 lines established under subsection (b)(2), protocols 

10 developed under subsection (b)(3), and other pro11 grams established under subsection (b), shall not be 

12 mandatory. 

13 (2) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.—The 

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

15 to the maximum extent practicable (as determined 

16 by the Coordinator in consultation with law enforce17 ment agencies of States and units of local govern18 ment), provide that appropriate information relating 

19 to a Blue Alert is disseminated to the appropriate 

20 officials of law enforcement agencies, public health 

21 agencies, and other agencies. 

22 (3) PRIVACY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES PROTEC23 TIONS.—The guidelines established under subsection 

24 (b) shall— 


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1 (A) provide mechanisms that ensure that 

2 Blue Alerts comply with all applicable Federal, 

3 State, and local privacy laws and regulations; 

4 and 

5 (B) include standards that specifically pro6 vide for the protection of the civil liberties, in7 cluding the privacy, of law enforcement officers 

8 who are seriously injured or killed in the line of 

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

10 official duties, or who are threatened with death 

11 or serious injury, and the families of the offi12 cers. 

13 (d) COOPERATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES.—The 

14 Coordinator shall cooperate with the Secretary of Home15 land Security, the Secretary of Transportation, the Chair16 man of the Federal Communications Commission, and ap17 propriate offices of the Department of Justice in carrying 

18 out activities under this Act. 

19 (e) RESTRICTIONS ON COORDINATOR.—The Coordi20 nator may not— 

21 (1) perform any official travel for the sole pur22 pose of carrying out the duties of the Coordinator; 

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

24 funding or implementation of a Blue Alert plan; or 


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

2 Alert program that requires the expenditure of Fed3 eral funds. 

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

5 of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Co6 ordinator shall submit to Congress a report on the activi7 ties of the Coordinator and the effectiveness and status 

8 of the Blue Alert plans that are in effect or being devel9 oped. 

Æ 


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