LA Sheriff’s Dispatch System Down After New Year’s Computer Crash

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s computer transmission system is still down after crashing on New Year’s Day. Officials did not immediately determine the cause of the crash, nor did they say when the system would be restored.

“It’s our own little Y2K,” sheriff’s deputy he told the LA Times. The accident happened just hours before midnight on Tuesday, causing problems for the department’s ability to field calls related to New Year’s celebrations. LASO has said that the accident appears to have been caused by a system that “did not allow workers to enter the new year, resulting in the CAD not working.”

An anonymous deputy cited by the Times also described the problem the department faced because of the accident: “Now, the callers have to write down everything they call and then the dispatcher has to explain everything that happened. That information and the patrol team has to write everything down,” he said. “They don’t have the ability to drive people or plates. They can’t get the report numbers out to give to people, so they have to call dispatch. “

Computerized dispatch systems (or CAD) are digital communication systems that police use to make 911 calls and respond to emergencies. When these systems go down (sometimes through Internet errors and sometimes because of a cyberattack) it forces the police to do the work of the police as they did in the 1990s. Police reports are filled out with pencil and paper and 911 calls are made by radio. Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles have been dealing with a number of cyber threats, including cyber threats. ransomware attacks which struck the district’s Supreme Court last summer.

It is not known when the system will come back online. “The department is working closely with the LA County Department of Internal Services to find short-term and long-term solutions to address this situation,” LASD said. “From the moment he took this position, the Sheriff emphasized the urgent need to improve and upgrade our internal systems. In the middle of 2023, the department submitted an official request to find a new modern CAD system that will help us a lot,” he said.

Gizmodo has reached out to LASD for more information and will update this story when we receive a response.