Public safety agents are rigorously trained to deal with a variety of dangerous situations using practiced methods that minimize risks for themselves and the public. In some cases, alerting the public is highly effective. It simultaneously warns the community about a local threat and solicits tips that help agents resolve the situation swiftly and safely.
In recent years, local and state governments have created and codified a number of public safety alerts like this, which have been highly successful at informing and requesting help from the public. As a result, these alerts have entered widespread use in jurisdictions across the U.S.
A number of public safety alerts use designated colors to help the public quickly identify the type of threat or situation in question. This includes AMBER Alerts for at-risk missing or abducted children and Silver Alerts for at-risk elderly, cognitively- or developmentally-disabled individuals that have gone missing.
But today, let’s explore Blue Alerts – what they are, how they work and when they came into use.
What are Blue Alerts?
A Blue Alert is a public safety alert sent over a system for mass notification to warn the public of a dangerous offender on the run and to ask the public for information to help agents find and apprehend them. These mass notifications are sent to the public through various communication channels, including television, radio, social media, SMS alerts for mobile and wireless devices and other channels where the public may be able to offer help, such as overhead signs on highways or other roadways.
When are Blue Alerts issued?
According to the Department of Justice, Blue Alert plans have been formally adopted by 38 states, with at least one other state currently debating pending legislation. While the criteria for issuing a Blue Alert differs from state to state, generally the following conditions must be met:
- A suspect has assaulted, seriously injured or killed a law enforcement officer or other public safety agent
- A law enforcement officer or other public safety agent is missing in connection with their official duties
- The suspect has fled the scene of the offending incident and poses an imminent threat to the public or either law enforcement or public safety personnel
- There is valid information to share that can assist the public in helping to locate the suspect, such as a license plate number or a detailed vehicle description
- It’s been determined that sharing such information will help reduce the potential public harm presented by the threat and/or bring the suspect into custody more quickly
Send vital mass notifications
Get the right message to the right people with simultaneous multichannel notifications sent from a single launch point.
- Send texts, emails, voice calls and more
- Easy to deploy and easy to track
- Follow-up alerting and training mode
A brief timeline of Blue Alerts
In May 2008, Florida became the first state to implement a Law Enforcement Officer (“LEO”) Alert system. The system was activated whenever an officer was killed or seriously injured in the line of duty. If the offender posed a threat to public safety, overhead signage above the state’s highways would share a warning about the threat with motorists as well as a description of the vehicle in which the offender was traveling.
Over the next seven years, 20 additional states implemented similar “Blue Alert” systems. In 2015, Congress passed the National Blue Alert Act, which instructed the Department of Justice to create a national Blue Alert communication system with the objective of alerting the public to offenders on the run.
Blue Alerts integrated into EAS and WEA systems
In December 2017, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced it had integrated blue alerts into the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system. This integration makes it possible for participating law enforcement agencies to share information across state lines and warn citizens of neighboring states if an offender is headed in their direction.
At the time of the integration, 26 states operated compatible Blue Alert systems. Due to the work of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) within the Department of Justice, there are now 38 in the system, with legislation under consideration in four more states. The ultimate aim of the COPS Office is to expand the Blue Alert system to all 50 states.
Public safety, empowered by AI
Pick up your free guide to AI in public safety and see how AI can streamline the incident lifecycle by helping you:
- Break the keyboard tether
- Translate 50+ languages live
- Bridge the intelligence gap
What to do if you receive a Blue Alert
If you receive an alert or see a message distributed through a Blue Alert mass notification system, here’s what you can do:
- If the alert contains information about a vehicle and you are on a roadway, safely check your surrounding area to see if the vehicle in question may be nearby.
- If you recognize the vehicle in question, stay a safe distance away. Do not approach the vehicle, the suspect or anyone else associated.
- If you have any information that may be helpful to public safety agents, call 9-1-1 and report it.
Make mass notifications part of your public safety ecosystem
As Blue Alert systems continue expanding into more states, more of the public can become aware of dangerous situations in their communities and empowered to assist public safety agencies to resolve them. And like local and state governments, your organization can also gain access to a reliable mass notification system to warn individuals and other organizations about active threats in your area.
If your organization is responsible for public safety in your jurisdiction and you would like to know more about EAS- and WEA-compatible mass notification systems, contact our team of safety experts.