[EAS] Missouri: Would a Blue Alert law helped?

[Sean Donelan]

Missouri has passed a Blue Alert law.  It takes effect in about three 
weeks, on August 28, 2017. Would the new Missouri Blue Alert law helped 
capture the alledged killer of a Clinton, Missouri police officer?  Is it 
misleading to imply the police couldn't notify the public without a Blue 
Alert law?

Do such  laws make emergency officials less likely to use public alert and 
warning systems because they believe a specific law must authorize each 
type of use?

http://www.news-leader.com/story/news/politics/2017/08/09/missouris-blue-alert-law-takes-effect-3-weeks-would-have-helped-clinton/552111001/
[...]
A report from Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), an arm of the 
U.S. Justice Department that oversees Blue Alert on a federal level, 
indicates that the effectiveness of the system is up for debate.

"The effectiveness of existing Blue Alert plans is difficult to gauge at 
this time due in part to the disconnected nature of plans from state to 
state," a May COPS report said. "There is no evidence, as of yet, that any 
of the states with Blue Alert plans have conducted research around this 
question."
[...]