A Blue Alert is an emergency notification that is sent to phones to inform the public when local, state, or federal law enforcement officers are killed or injured. The Blue Alert system is similar to AMBER Alerts, which are used to notify the public about missing children, and Silver Alerts, which are used to notify the public about missing senior citizens. The Blue Alert system was developed to speed up the apprehension of violent criminals who kill or seriously injure law enforcement officers.

When a Blue Alert is issued, it provides real-time information to the public, such as the location of the incident and any identifying information about the suspect or vehicle, to help locate possible suspects. The Blue Alert is transmitted to television and radio stations with the Emergency Alert System (EAS), as well as to cellphones and wireless devices with the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) .

If you dont want to receive Blue Alerts on your phone, it is possible to disable them. However, doing so may also disable other emergency alerts that you do want to receive, so it may be best to leave the alerts enabled. To turn off Blue Alerts on an iPhone, open the "Settings" app, tap on "Notifications," scroll to the bottom where youll see the heading "Government Alerts," and tap the toggle switch next to "Emergency Alerts" and "Public Safety Alerts" to disable Blue Alert messages.