A Blue Alert is a warning system used by law enforcement agencies to rapidly disseminate information to the public to assist in apprehending violent criminals who kill or seriously injure law enforcement officers in the line of duty or to aid in locating a missing officer where foul play is involved. The Blue Alert program uses the statewide infrastructure of the existing AMBER Alert system to push out critical information to citizens to assist in locating a missing child who is in imminent danger. The National Blue Alert Network supports the use and integration of Blue Alert plans throughout the United States in order to rapidly disseminate information to law enforcement agencies, the media, and the public to aid in the apprehension of violent criminals who have killed or seriously injured an officer in the line of duty.
When a law enforcement officer is killed, sustains life-threatening injuries, or is missing in the line of duty under circumstances warranting concern for the officer’s safety, the head of any Tennessee law enforcement agency, colonel of the Highway Patrol, chief, sheriff, or their designee of the investigating law enforcement agency of jurisdiction asks the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) to activate the Blue Alert system. The staff in TBI’s Criminal Intelligence Unit determines whether the Blue Alert criteria have been met and then proceeds to issue the alert. The criteria for activating a Blue Alert include a sworn law enforcement officer being killed, sustaining life-threatening injuries, or being missing in the line of duty under circumstances warranting concern for the officer’s safety, and the suspect(s) being at large and posing an imminent and credible threat to law enforcement or the public.
Blue Alerts are posted on TDOT road signs, lottery displays, and social media platforms, and are sent out to mobile phones using the statewide infrastructure of the existing AMBER Alert system. They can also be transmitted to television and radio stations and to overhead highway message signs.
