DUBUQUE, IOWA – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is calling on the Justice Department to swiftly bring online a national law enforcement threat alert system that was established in law more than a year ago but has since been mired in department bureaucracy. Recent media reports indicate that despite an uptick in ambush-style attacks targeting law enforcement officers in America, the Justice Department has yet to implement any portion of the law, which Grassley cosponsored and led through the Judiciary Committee in early 2015.

“This is bureaucracy at its worst. The Blue Alert system was created in response to a cold-blooded attack on two officers in 2014. President Obama has acknowledged its importance on multiple occasions. Yet 15 months and more than a dozen tragedies later, his administration has yet to implement it. The Justice Department needs to work swiftly, as this Congress has, to help protect law enforcement and prevent future tragedies,” Grassley said.

In a letter today to Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Grassley urged the Justice Department to act with greater urgency, and submit an implementation plan to the committee by the end of September. The Justice Department indicated that it would have a plan available within 60 days in the August 30 report.

The Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu National Blue Alert Act was introduced following the deadly targeting of two New York City police officer in late 2014. The bill creates a nationwide system, known as a Blue Alert, to notify law enforcement agencies when a credible threat is made against members of the law enforcement community and assists in the apprehending of individuals who have killed or injured police officers. Grassley led the bill through the Judiciary Committee in March 2015. It was signed into law in May 2015.

Grassley has worked on several additional policies related to law enforcement services and support. For example, Grassley and Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina introduced the Walter Scott Notification Act, which would require states receiving certain federal funds to report information regarding a discharge of a firearm by a law enforcement officer that results in the death of a civilian. Grassley is also the author of the Public Safety Officer Benefits Improvement Act.  This bill has cleared the Judiciary Committee and would help reduce the waiting time for a decision on survivor benefits for the families of public safety officers killed in the line of duty. The Judiciary Crime and Terrorism Subcommittee had a hearing on body cameras on May 19, 2015 to explore the benefits and concerns regarding law enforcement’s use of body cameras. The POLICE Act, which Grassley led through the Judiciary Committee, was signed into law to help law enforcement and first responders train for active shooter scenarios.

Grassley’s letter to Lynch follows:

August 31, 2016

Via Electronic Transmission

The Honorable Loretta Lynch
Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20530

Dear Attorney General Lynch,

I write in response to an alarming report in USA Today yesterday concerning the Department of Justice’s failure to implement the Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu National Blue Alert Act of 2015, which was passed by Senate Judiciary Committee and signed by the President in May 2015.[1]  The bill, of which I was an original co-sponsor, established a voluntary nationwide system to give police an early warning of threats against police officers, similar to Amber Alerts for missing children.

As you are aware, police officers are facing a heightened threat environment, as exemplified by the tragic ambush of officers Ramos and Liu in New York City, as well as the more recent shootings of police officers in Dallas and in Baton Rouge.  Indeed, this environment was one of the reasons I moved this bipartisan legislation through the Judiciary Committee, and why it was quickly passed by the entire Congress and signed into law.  Indeed, the President himself has touted the bill on numerous occasions since he signed it. 

Given this backdrop, it is stunning that, according to the report, the administration “has yet to implement any provision” of the law, in part because it took more than a year for the Department of Justice to determine which office would be responsible for implementing it.  In addition, the law required that the Justice Department submit a report to Congress by May 19, 2016 concerning the effectiveness and status of Blue Alert plans being developed, but no such report was apparently submitted.  

When it comes to protecting the lives of police officers, the Department should be moving with dispatch, as opposed to letting the inertia of the bureaucratic process delay the realization of this important alert system.  According to the report, the Justice Department will have an implementation plan for this law within 60 days.  But after fifteen months have passed, this still does not suggest that the Department is treating the matter with the required urgency.  I request that such a plan be provided to my staff within 30 days, or on or before September 30, 2016.  Thank you for your attention to this important matter.   

Sincerely,

 

Charles E. Grassley
Chairman

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