NavList:

   

Reply

A bug disabled the computer aided dispatch system of the Los Angeles
County Sheriff on the night of December 31:

"The issue was first noted at around 8 p.m. on New Year's Eve, when
department officials were 'made aware that several patrol stations were
having difficulty logging on to their patrol vehicle mobile digital
computers,' according to a department statement.

"They were able to determine that their Computer Aided Dispatch program
was not allowing people to log in 'with the new year,' which made the
program inoperable."

The reports I've seen do not explain why deputies tried to log in 'with
the new year' when it was still December 31.

If the trouble began a little after 16:00 local time (00:00 UTC), I
would suspect the system was keeping time internally with UTC, but news
reports say it started around 20:00. Furthermore, they say the system is
old and needs to be replaced, which implies it's handled the end of year
successfully many times.

Perhaps there's a rollover issue, such as the GPS week number rollover
that happened years ago. Since that occurred, my ca. 2000 Magellan
receiver is years in error in its dates, though it still navigates
without trouble. In fact, it's better than new in that respect. Rarely
do I see its positions off by more than 10 feet.

As I write this the LA sheriff dispatchers are warning deputies to not
attempt to log in, so as to not overload the system as tests are
performed. Maybe that means a fix has been installed.


https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/lasds-dispatch-system-suffers-early-morning-crash-on-new-years-day/

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-01/l-a-sheriffs-dispatch-system-crashes-on-new-years-eve

--
Paul Hirose
sofajpl.com

   

Reply