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DOJ COPS Office Calls for WEA Blue Alerts

The FCC should create a separate wireless emergency alert classification for Blue Alerts, said DOJ’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) in a letter to the FCC posted in docket 15-94 Monday. The FCC order that created the BLU…

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Blue Alert emergency alert system code authorized temporary use of the existing “imminent threat” classification to allow Blue Alerts to be disseminated through the WEA system (see 1712140045), but the COPS Office now wants a dedicated classification for WEAs as well. A separate classification “would further enhance the promulgation of succinct guidance and allow for additional safeguards to ensure that Blue Alerts are issued in an effective and consistent manner,” the letter said. “The WEA Imminent Threat classification is more of a ‘one size fits all’ tool whose usage is subject to broader interpretation.” A separate classification would minimize improper use of the alerts, it said.