Remarks by the President at Signing of the Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu National Blue Alert Act of 2015

Oval Office

11:07 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, as some of you aware, several weeks ago we lost two of New York’s finest, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu.  They were serving their community with great honor and dedication and courage.  And all of New York grieved and all of the nation grieved.  It was a reminder of the incredibly difficult and dangerous work that so many of our law enforcement officers are engaged in every single day.

I had a chance to meet the families of officers Ramos and Liu at the memorial that we did just a few days ago.  But it’s important for us not only to honor their memory, it’s also important for us to make sure that we do everything we can to help ensure the safety of our police officers when they’re in the line of duty. 

And this legislation -- which has been sponsored on a bipartisan basis by people like Senators Cardin and Representatives Reichert and Pascrell -- represent I think the best of a bipartisan support for law enforcement.  What this legislation is going to do is to initiate a Blue Alert System so that when we know there is an active threat against law enforcement, that the alerts are going out at a comprehensive and expeditious way.  That prevents the possibility that other officers may be caught by surprise, and it ensures that appropriate steps can be taken as quickly as possible.

So I want to again thank the members of Congress who have come together to put this legislation in place.  Most of all, I want to thank the families who obviously are still grieving from a terrible tragedy but have worked hard to make sure that it is translated into something concrete. 

And we’re very proud of them.  I'm particularly proud of the children here -- these young men who, I think, are obviously grief stricken but we know they’re going to do a great job looking after their mom moving forward. 

So with that, what I’d like to do is sign the legislation. 

(The legislation is signed.)  Done. 

Thank you very much, everybody.

END
11:10 A.M. EDT