Oakland 911 Dispatch System Fails: Calls Rerouted to Alameda County Sheriff
Oakland's 911 system suffered a serious failure on the night of October 21. According to Gizmodo, the Oakland Police Department posted on Facebook that its computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system froze and displayed an error message at about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. All 911 calls were transferred to the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, and dispatchers were relocated to a local fire dispatch station.
Oakland police said they were responding only to Priority One calls, and that the city's IT department was working with AT&T to restore internet and phone service, with no restoration time announced.
Parts of Santa Barbara County also reported 911 disruptions on October 22; Santa Barbara police said residents unable to reach 911 could call the department's 24-hour dispatch center at 805-882-8900, and urged people not to call 911 to test the lines. Riverside County reported similar problems affecting some cellphone users the same day, covered separately by GSM. An AT&T spokesperson blamed damage to another provider's fiber infrastructure, potentially linked to theft. (GSM, based on Gizmodo reporting)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 从Lake Merritt望向Oakland市中心，BayAreaMetro 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0（Wikimedia Commons） / Downtown Oakland seen from Lake Merritt, by BayAreaMetro, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- 2026-10-22Oakland 911 Dispatch System Fails: Calls Rerouted to Alameda County SheriffThis story
- 2026-10-23Follow-Up: Oakland 911 Dispatch Restored After Two-Day Disruption
