Oakland 911 system restored, investigation underway after police find cut cables

By Tim Fang

911 service in Oakland has been fully restored after police said copper wire theft and damaged fiber optic lines led to an outage that began Wednesday night and continued for over 24 hours.

Around 8:30 a.m. Friday, the city said all phone service to all city systems is back online, after crews with the city and AT&T worked through the night to perform repairs to damaged infrastructure.

“The City extends our strongest gratitude to our partners at the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office for their support while repairs were completed,” city officials posted on social media. “The City will continue to work with AT&T to harden critical infrastructure and strengthen backup systems.”

The issues began at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, when dispatchers at the police department noticed the Computer-Aided dispatch (CAD) system froze and displayed an error message. Dispatchers tried both emergency and non-emergency lines and found no service to all phone lines, internet or CAD.

In response, 911 calls were transferred to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office and police dispatchers were relocated to the sheriff’s office and the Oakland Fire Department.

On Thursday, both police and AT&T said both copper and fiber optic lines were cut, and police were investigating the damage as a criminal act.

“This is a perfect example of theft leading to something far more severe and serious that could result in people losing their lives,” Police Chief James Beere said at a news conference Thursday afternoon.

Police urged the public to report any suspicious activity or anyone seen cutting or removing cable.