FCC Introduces B-L-U Alert Code to Improve Safety for Law Enforcement Officers

January 2018 - The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) published new rules for the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) that are effective January 18, 2018. The regulation stipulates that a new event code, B-L-U, will be integrated into EAS January 18, 2019, and into WEA July 18, 2019. The B-L-U code will “allow alert originators to issue an alert whenever a law enforcement officer is injured or killed, missing in connection  with his or her official duties, or there is an imminent and credible threat to cause death or serious injury to law enforcement officers.”

 

The EAS system was established on January 1, 1997, and serves as a national warning system to alert the public of local weather emergencies. It is coordinated jointly by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the FCC and can deliver messages via AM, FM, broadcast television, and cable television. In a statement by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, the B-L-U alert is similar to Amber alerts and will allow “state and local authorities to send warnings over broadcast, cable, satellite, and wireline video networks to quickly warn a community of imminent threats to police.”

 

For more information and the full regulation document please visit: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2018-01-18/html/2018-00595.htm

 

Source: FCC [PS Docket No. 15-94; FCC-17-170]