STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER JESSICA ROSENWORCEL,
APPROVING IN PART, DISSENTING IN PART
Re: Amendment of Part 11 of the Commission’s Rules Regarding Emergency Alert System, 
Report and Order, PS Docket No. 15-94. 
Today, the Commission fulfills the promise of the Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu 
National Blue Alert Act, which was signed into law by President Obama in 2015.  We create a 
new Emergency Alert Code—BLU—for use with our public alerting systems when a law 
enforcement officer is in peril.  This new code and these three letters have the potential to save 
lives and increase situational awareness for our first responders.  This is good stuff.  It has my 
support.
I dissent, however, on one aspect of today’s decision.  In evaluating the merits of the 
Blue Alert system that we adopt today, the Commission puts forward a cost-benefit analysis that 
weighs the cost of industry compliance against the value of a police officer’s life.  You heard that 
right—in deciding whether to impose a requirement under this law the Commission puts a price 
on the death of first responders and then nets it out against industry expenses.  Fortunately for 
law enforcement, the math works out.  But this cold calculus is neither needed nor smart.  There 
is a way to do cost-benefit analysis thoughtfully and with dignity for those who wear the 
shield—some of whom sit before us right here, right now.  This isn’t it.  On this disrespectful 
analysis, I dissent.