A new alert code has been added to the nationโs emergency alert system.
At its December Open Meeting, the Federal Communications Commission moved to amend the EAS rules by adding a new event code โ a Blue Alert โ that can be sent over the EAS and the Wireless Emergency Alert system. The alerts are designed to be used by state and local authorities to notify the public of threats to law enforcement and to help apprehend dangerous suspects.
Blue Alerts are designed to warn the public when there is information related to a law enforcement officer who is missing, seriously injured or killed in the line of duty, or when there is a threat to an officer. At the meeting, the commissioners welcomed the family members and colleagues of two New York City Police detectives who were killed in the line of duty in 2014, officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu. These new codes are being in put in place to help protect officers in future, Chairman Ajit Pai said.