COPS Office Grant to Support the National Blue Alert Network

To advance Executive Order 13929 Safe Policing for Safe Communities, as of October 28, 2020, the Attorney General determined that all state, local, and university or college law enforcement agencies must be certified by an approved independent credentialing body or have started the certification process to be allocated FY 2023 DOJ discretionary grant funding, either as a recipient or a subrecipient. For detailed information on this new certification requirement, please visit https://cops.usdoj.gov/SafePolicingEO.

The National Blue Alert Network seeks to encourage, enhance, and integrate Blue Alert plans throughout the United States. Blue Alerts provide for rapid dissemination of information to law enforcement agencies, media, and the public to aid in the apprehension of offenders who have killed or seriously injured or pose an imminent and credible threat to law enforcement. Blue Alerts can also be issued when an officer is missing in the line of duty. Blue Alerts can be transmitted via wireless devices and through the Emergency Alert System (EAS) in the same manner as AMBER Alerts.

The COPS Office administers the National Blue Alert Network. As part of its work to support the National Blue Alert Network, the COPS Office tracks shootings of officers (both fatal and non-fatal) on a monthly basis and prepares annual reports for public dissemination. The goal is to better understand the nature and frequency of incidents that could give rise to the issuance of a Blue Alert. These types of felonious shooting attacks account for nearly all situations where a Blue Alert would most likely be used.

The COPS Office also coordinates regular meetings of the Blue Alert Advisory Group. In FY23, the COPS Office plans to expand awareness of the Blue Alert network through the production of a public service announcement video.

Statutory Authority

This program is authorized under the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, as amended, and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, Title I, Part Q, Public Law 103-322, 34 U.S.C. § 10381 et seq.

All awards are subject to the availability of appropriated funds and any modifications or additional requirements that may be imposed by law.

Program Goals

Under this solicitation, the COPS Office seeks applications for a project to support the COPS Office coordination efforts through:

Production of a short educational video to raise public awareness of the National Blue Alert Network;
Collection of information on officers shot in the line of duty;
Preparation of the annual report and other materials for the advisory group and for public dissemination.

Objectives and Activities

The proposal narrative and budget should address the following objectives and activities:

Write, film, and produce a three-to four-minute Public Service Announcement (PSA) showcasing the Blue Alert program, to be used on broadcast, internet, and live event platforms. A social media edited version (less than two minutes) will also be produced. The PSA(s) will use pre-existing video footage and graphics as well as video footage from new interviews and updated/new graphics. The intended audience is the law enforcement community, law enforcement stakeholders, non-Blue Alert states, and alert coordinators.
Develop or acquire a tracking tool to assist in developing and employing targeted queries for use with publicly available news sources and news search engines to identify all reported incidents where law enforcement personnel are shot in the line of duty.
Use publicly available sources and databases to identify all reported incidents where on-duty law enforcement personnel are shot in the line of duty.
Collect data on reported shootings of law enforcement officers nationwide and provide the data to the COPS Office in a monthly dataset. The data will include as much information as available, including at a minimum date and time of incident, city and state of incident, name of affected law enforcement agency, number of law enforcement shot and extent of injuries when available, nature of incident leading to shooting, officer and suspect demographics when available, and suspect disposition (fled, captured, killed, etc.). Where applicable, the recipient will collect data and clearly identify circumstances where an officer was shot/attacked by an assailant when they were not on duty but were recognized as a law enforcement officer.
On a monthly basis, provide the collected data (see Objective 4) in a dataset of all reported shooting incidents and elements to the COPS Office. The recipient will work with the program manager to determine the appropriate method for providing this data.
Produce two annual aggregated reports (twice throughout the award period) based on all available information, to identify trends and develop policing strategies and training to reduce the number of officers who are shot in the line of duty. The reports will be professional in appearance, follow the COPS Office Editorial and Style Manual, and are suitable for internal use and public dissemination.
Provide monthly project updates to the COPS Office via email and/or conference call.

This is a competitive, discretionary program.