Disruptions to 911 and other emergency services were reported Thursday in at least three areas of California, including Oakland, Riverside County (east of Los Angeles) and Santa Barbara County on the Central Coast.
Oakland
The Oakland Police Department posted a notice on Facebook on Thursday stating that its computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system had crashed and displayed an error message around 8:30 p.m. local time on Wednesday. All 911 calls were transferred to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office and dispatchers were transferred to a local fire station.
“We only respond to priority 1 calls,” Oakland police wrote on Facebook. “The City of Oakland IT Department is working with AT&T to restore internet and phone service.”
Santa Barbara
The 911 outages appear to be impacting AT&T and T-Mobile customers in Santa Barbara, according to local news outlet KEYT, although it’s not yet clear whether other wireless carriers are experiencing issues.
The Santa Barbara Police Department wrote on Facebook: “If you are unable to reach 911, please call the Santa Barbara Police Department 24/7 Dispatch Center directly at 805-882-8900 for emergency assistance. » Texting 911 does not appear to be affected.
Riverside County
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office posted a notice on its website Thursday saying it was affecting “the ability of some cell phone users” to call 911. Anyone trying to call 911 in Riverside County and being unable to get through is encouraged to call 951-776-1078.
Gizmodo called the Riverside County Sheriff’s non-emergency line and was greeted by an AI agent who eventually directed us to a human. The human confirmed that “there are some issues” with the 911 service, but “it’s not completely resolved.” We were then given a number for the press office, but were warned that it was a pager service.
After calling the number, we were prompted to “enter a digital message” and we entered our phone number in hopes of getting a response. Eventually we received a call back and the public information officer said he wasn’t sure what cell services were affected, but he asked us to email him so he could respond with a public statement.
All of which is to say that modern life is a jumble of systems, some so-called modern like AI, while others are archaic and confusing, resulting in more steps for everyone involved.
Reached for comment, a spokesperson for the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office told Gizmodo:
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office learned of the outage earlier this morning. It’s unclear what caused the outage on the cellular service provider’s network or how long it will last. Some cell phone users in Riverside County are still able to dial 9-1-1 as the telecommunications side of the law enforcement network continues to operate normally.
Black October connection?
It’s unclear whether the outages have anything to do with what’s known in the cybersecurity community as Black October and the PHP vulnerabilities discovered earlier this week. Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince tweeted Wednesday that there have been “millions” of attempts to exploit the vulnerabilities.
T-Mobile did not immediately respond to emailed questions Thursday about the outages. AT&T blamed the outage on damage to an unnamed provider’s fiber infrastructure.
“Damage to another provider’s fiber optics, potentially related to the theft, is affecting 9-1-1 call routing for some AT&T mobility customers in the Los Angeles area,” a company spokesperson said. “We understand the importance of reliable access to emergency services, and our teams remain mobilized as restoration work continues. »
It’s unclear whether the disruptions in the Los Angeles area have anything to do with the problems in Oakland, which is about 400 miles to the north.
Do not test 911
Santa Barbara officials are urging residents not to call 911 or other emergency numbers if they are not experiencing an emergency.
“Please do not call 911 to test for fault,” the public information officer for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office tweeted Thursday. “Even if your call is unsuccessful, our dispatchers may still receive your number and should call you back.”
“These unnecessary reminders waste precious time responding to emergencies,” the tweet continues. “Please keep 911 lines clear. »
Updated at 2:30 p.m. ET with comment from an AT&T spokesperson.
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