The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the nation's largest sheriff's department, is currently experiencing an outage of its computer dispatch system. The system crashed on New Year's Eve, leaving deputies to handle all calls via radio communication.
Officials first became aware of the issue on Tuesday evening when deputies at various sheriff's stations were unable to log in to the mobile computers in their patrol cars. The department's computer-aided dispatch program, known as CAD, was not allowing personnel to log on with the new year, rendering it inoperable.
As a result, the department is currently operating on self-dispatch while working to address the problem. Calls for service are still being responded to, with manual tracking being conducted at the station level. Despite the system outage, service remains uninterrupted, and radio communications as well as 911 lines are fully operational.
While the cause of the problem remains unclear, department spokesperson Nicole Nishida has stated that there is no indication of a malicious attack, attributing the issue to a technical problem. The department has been grappling with outdated technology for years, prompting Sheriff Robert Luna to stress the need for system improvements since assuming office in December 2022.
In mid-2023, the department initiated the process of acquiring a new, centralized CAD system by requesting proposals. However, the current status of this modernization effort has not been disclosed in the recent statements. Former Sheriff Alex Villanueva highlighted the department's need for a new dispatch system in a 2022 letter to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors, citing the existing system's inability to comply with data collection requirements due to its outdated nature.
