LA sheriff’s 911 system affected by power outage

A power outage affecting the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department‘s 911 system is still in effect Friday, and the full extent of the problem’s impact remained unknown.

At approximately 6:02 p.m. Thursday, the department was notified of an outage affecting the Vesta System, a third-party public safety call-handling platform. The disruption is impacting 911 calls within the sheriff’s department’s jurisdiction, an LASD spokeswoman told City News Service.

In response to the outage, 911 calls are being automatically redirected to patrol station business phone lines to help ensure continued emergency response coverage, the department said.

“The Sheriff’s Department has deployed Department electricians to assess and address the issue and are working closely with the third-party telecommunications provider to restore full service as quickly as possible,” said the LASD in a statement. “We appreciate the community’s understanding and want to reassure our residents that we are taking all necessary steps to maintain emergency response services while this issue is being resolved.”

The system outage was still in affect as of 6 a.m. Friday, and a deputy at the Sheriff’s Information Bureau said an estimate on when service would be restored was not available.