Justin Fenton
Baltimore Sun
BALTIMORE, Md. — Gov. Martin O’Malley announced today that he was speeding up the implementation of an alert system to notify the public when police are searching for suspects in violent crimes against law enforcement officers. The move comes a few weeks after police spent days searching for suspects in the shooting of off-duty trooper Wesley Brown.
The so-called “Blue Alert” will “rapidly disseminate information” to assist in “locating and apprehending an offender suspected of killing or seriously injuring a law enforcement officer, whose disappearances [sic] poses a serious threat.” It was sponsored by De. Curt Anderson and was set to go into effect on Oct. 1, but O’Malley’s executive order speeds up that timeframe to enact is immediately.
The system joins the Amber Alert system, designed to locate missing children, and the Silver Alert for missing seniors. The latter was implemented in 2009.
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