---
kind: "section"
citation: "34 U.S.C. § 50501"
title: "34"
title_heading: "Crime Control and Law Enforcement"
number: "50501"
heading: "Definitions"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/34/50501"
units:
  - "Subtitle V — Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Personnel"
  - "Chapter 505 — National Blue Alert"
---

# §50501. Definitions


In this chapter:

- (1) **Coordinator—** The term “Coordinator” means the [Blue Alert](#2) Coordinator of the Department of Justice designated under [section 50503(a) of this title](/usc/34/50503.md?p=a).
- (2) **Blue Alert—** The term “Blue Alert” means information sent through the [network](#5) relating to—
  - (A) the serious injury or death of a [law enforcement officer](#4) in the line of duty;
  - (B) an officer who is missing in connection with the officer’s official duties; or
  - (C) an imminent and credible threat that an individual intends to cause the serious injury or death of a [law enforcement officer](#4).
- (3) **Blue Alert plan—** The term “Blue Alert plan” means the plan of a [State](/usc/34/50102.md?p=4), unit of local government, or Federal agency participating in the [network](#5) for the dissemination of information received as a [Blue Alert](#2).
- (4) **Law enforcement officer—** The term “law enforcement officer” shall have the same meaning as in [section 10284 of this title](/usc/34/10284.md).
- (5) **Network—** The term “network” means the [Blue Alert](#2) communications network established by the Attorney General under [section 50502 of this title](/usc/34/50502.md).
- (6) **State—** The term “[State](/usc/34/50102.md?p=4)” means each of the 50 [States](/usc/34/50102.md?p=4), the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 114–12, § 2, May 19, 2015, 129 Stat. 192.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Codification

Section was formerly classified to section 14165 of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare, prior to editorial reclassification and renumbering as this section.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Short Title

For short title of Pub. L. 114–12, which is classified to this chapter, as the “Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu National Blue Alert Act of 2015”, see section 1 of Pub. L. 114–12, set out as a Short Title of 2015 Act note under section 10101 of this title.