SAN ANTONIO – By now, you may know what the different kinds of Texas Department of Public Safety alerts mean, from AMBER to CLEAR.
However, a Blue Alert might leave you confused if you receive one on your phone. So what does it mean?
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A Blue Alert is used to inform that someone has seriously injured or killed a law enforcement officer, according to Texas DPS.
Investigators also believe the “offender poses a serious risk or threat to the public and other law enforcement personnel.”
That is not the only criteria that must be met for a Blue Alert. According to the DPS website, that includes:
- A detailed description of the offender’s vehicle, vehicle tag, or partial tag must be available for broadcast to the public.
- The investigating law enforcement agency of jurisdiction must recommend the activation of the Blue Alert to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS).
The Blue Alert program was signed into law in 2008 by then-Gov. Rick Perry.
DPS released the following statement in regards to Blue Alerts:
We would like to remind the public that Blue Alerts are urgent public safety warnings that are meant to warn people of possible danger. They are designed to speed up the apprehension of violent criminals who kill or seriously wound law enforcement officers by generating tips and leads for the investigating agencies, and therefore giving those agencies the best opportunity to apprehend a dangerous criminal.
It is also important to note that while the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) is responsible for administering multiple alerts as part of the Statewide Alert Program, each of these alerts — and the criteria needed to meet them — were established by laws passed by the Texas Legislature.
For Blue Alerts, once an investigating agency makes a written request for activation, DPS then verifies that the established criteria is met, and if so, immediately begins activating the alert.
The Wireless Emergency Alert activation radius is determined by the requesting law enforcement agency, and we would refer you there—in this case the Hall County Sheriff’s Office — for specific questions on this morning’s Blue Alert.
