America’s largest sheriff’s department in LA offline since New Year’s Eve

It’s been more than 48 hours but the entire computer dispatch system of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s (LASD) is still down. Moreover, officials say they don’t even know when the issue will be resolved as the system apparently thinks it’s 2003.

The outdated system crashed on New Year’s Eve at around 8 p.m. The technology, used to send officers to the scenes of alleged crimes, was still non-functional early Friday morning.

To be sure, the LASD says deputies are still being sent to locations as needed. But they are called on the radio because they cannot receive instructions via their patrol car computers as usual.

Calls for service are manually tracked at the station level, and patrol units have been forced to use paper logs again – just like in the 1980s. Still, 911 lines are fully operational, said the department.

“While we’re temporarily operating on self-dispatch, all calls for service are being promptly responded to and tracked manually by our deputies and dispatchers. We always train and prepare to overcome any issues that arise, even if that means falling back to basics by using pen and paper,” reads an almost cheerful statement on the department’s Facebook page.

“We are thrilled with the job our employees are doing currently to ensure the community is unaffected.”

That same statement said that the LASD was working to find “both short-term and long-term solutions” to solve the issue. This might not be easy, though.

“The system thinks it’s July of 2003, and won’t interface with any other department system," one source told Cece Woods, editor of southern California news outlet The Current Report.

“It appears the system self-destructed and/or wasn’t programmed to go beyond 2024.”

Allegedly, only two people knew the system’s programming. One is dead, and the other isn’t responding to calls.

Some are bitter about the ongoing incident. Since taking office, LASD’s head, Sheriff Robert Luna has highlighted the need to modernize the department’s internal systems, and last year, a formal request was issued for proposals to implement a new, centralized dispatch system – with no results so far.

Alex Villanueva, Luna’s predecessor, also said on X that he had told to the LA Board of Supervisors that the LASD systems were running on computers that were no longer even supported by the manufacturers.

👆🏻That’s a letter to the Board that they’re not going to want to see again! Here’s just a small quote, “It is not a matter of “IF” there will be a catastrophic and unrecoverable failure of the RMS or CAD system, but a question of “WHEN.” This failure will produce a significant…

undefined Alex Villanueva (@AlexVilanueva33) January 1, 2025

The incident comes amid heightened law enforcement presence in America’s largest cities following a terrorist attack in New Orleans and a Tesla Cybertruck explosion outside a Las Vegas hotel owned by President-elect Donald Trump.