What Is a Blue Alert? Understanding the Hall County, Texas Notification
Cellphones across Texas lit up early Friday morning with a blue alert. Find out here what the notice was about.
Millions of Texans were startled awake just before 5:00 AM on Friday when a Blue Alert was broadcast across the state.
The notification was issued to locate Seth Altman who was last seen in Memphis, Texas, about 80 miles south of Amarillo. According to a release from the Texas Department of Public Safety, officials believe the 33-year-old suspect is “associated with the serious injury of a law enforcement officer, posing a significant risk or threat to the public and other law enforcement personnel.” They urged Texans to call 911 if they see him and to avoid approaching him.
The Blue Alert sparked frustration among many Texans, who took to X to voice their discontent over the timing.
One user remarked, “Seth Altman just pissed off the entire state of Texas.” Another user, Matt Hopkins, criticized the emergency alert system, tweeting, “Sending a ‘Blue Alert’ at 4:50 AM is an abuse of the emergency alert system. How many people were woken up in the middle of their sleep by it?”
So, What Is a Blue Alert?
Blue Alerts are one of several public safety notifications issued by the state when authorities need assistance in locating someone. Typically, these alerts take the form of AMBER Alerts for missing children or Silver Alerts for missing elderly individuals.
This specific emergency notification is issued to inform the public when a law enforcement officer is injured or killed, and the suspect is still at large. Blue Alerts are designed to solicit public assistance in locating the suspect.
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety’s website, the criteria for activating a Blue Alert are as follows:
- A law enforcement officer must have been killed or seriously injured by an offender.
- The investigating law enforcement agency must determine that the offender poses a serious risk or threat to the public and other law enforcement personnel.
- A detailed description of the offender’s vehicle, including vehicle tags or partial tags, must be available for public broadcast.
- The investigating law enforcement agency must recommend the activation of the Blue Alert to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS).