Maryland Enacts "Blue Alert" System

Just two weeks after the fatal shooting of Maryland State Trooper Wesley Brown on June 11, 2010, and the ensuing hunt for his killers, Governor Martin O'Malley signed an executive order on June 25 to immediately begin the use of the Blue Alert information system. The program was formally signed into law earlier this year, but originally was not set to be in place until October 2010.

Similar to the Amber and Silver Alert systems for children and senior citizens, the Blue Alert system is used whenever a law enforcement officer is killed or injured, spreading information on the suspects throughout state agencies, including make, model, and color of any vehicles or other information pertinent to identifying and apprehending suspects who kill or injure officers. In Maryland, the State Police will be able to notify 150 radio and TV stations, coupled with posting information on the Internet and utilizing signs on the state's highways.

In comments to WBAL Radio, Col. Terrence Sheridan, the State Police Superintendent, said, "I never want to use it. It's a devastating effect losing a law enforcement officer that represents our citizens. You're not killing a human being, you're taking a shot at all of us."

Maryland joins just a handful of other states, including Texas, Florida and Oklahoma, in the use of the Blue Alert system. Feel your state should use Blue Alert? Learn how you can help support Concerns of Police Survivors in its national campaign to implement Blue Alert: http://www.nationalcops.org/survivorsforms/BlueAlert.pdf.

For more information on Maryland's Blue Alert program:

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/ap/omalley-blue-alert-system-to-begin-friday-97099564.html

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/blog/2010/06/alert_system_for_suspects_in_c.html