By Ernie Suggs
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ATLANTA — As law enforcement authorities reported an arrest Wednesday in the ambush slaying of a Chattahoochee Hills police officer, a state senator was pushing legislation to make it easier to track and catch accused cop killers in the future.
Last week, Senate Transportation Chairman Jeff Mullis (R-Chickamauga) introduced SB 397, which would create a statewide alert system similar to an Amber Alert.
It would be called a “Blue Alert.”
Mullis said the system would help “speed the apprehension of violent criminals who kill or seriously injure local, state or federal law enforcement officers.”
“If somebody shoots a police officer, he is obviously dangerous and must be sought after,” Mullis said.
The GBI reported Wednesday that an arrest had been made in Monday’s ambush slaying of Chattahoochee Hills police Lt. Michael Vogt. While patrolling a rural area of south Fulton County in broad daylight, the officer was shot several times by a high-powered rifle, setting off a search for his killer.
“If such a system had been in place ... the person who committed this terrible act against Officer Vogt perhaps would have been in custody within hours,” Mullis said.
Like an Amber Alert, which is activated when a child is abducted, when a police officer has been killed or seriously injured and the perpetrator is at large, a Blue Alert would be broadcast across the state on Georgia Department of Transportation message boards and other state messaging systems to notify the public, Mullis said.
Under Mullis’ bill, the system would be activated once several factors have come into play, including:
* The investigating law enforcement agency must determine that the offender poses a serious threat to the public.
* Detailed descriptions of the offender’s vehicle and tags are available.
“This would be a great tool in apprehending criminals who assault law enforcement officers,” Carlton Stallings, the president of the Georgia Fraternal Order of Police, said in a statement. “With the loss ... of Officer Mike Vogt in Chattahoochee Hills, this bill couldn’t be more timely.”
“My heart goes out to the families, but this bill was not [introduced] on his behalf,” Mullis said. “But ironically, his death draws attention to the need for something like this.”
Copyright 2010 Atlanta Journal-Constitution