The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently released a proposal to add an alert option to the nation’s Emergency Alert System (EAS) that aims to protect law enforcement officers by allowing them to notify the public of various threats to officers and provide information on wanted suspects
The alerts, called Blue Alerts, would also be used to warn the public when there is actionable information related to a law enforcement officer who is missing, seriously injured, or killed in the line of duty.
According to the FCC, the alerts could be used to provide communities with needed information on what to do if a person were to spot a suspect and how to remain safe.
The proposal was issued through a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) and would amend the FCC’s EAS rules by creating a dedicated event code for Blue Alerts so state and local agencies could have the option to send warnings to the public through broadcast, cable, satellite, and wireline video mediums.
A number of states already carry some version of a Blue Alert system, however, the new FCC proposal intends to support the development of a national framework that states can adopt.