Police Cars Temporarily Cut Off From 911 Dispatchers

Communications between 911 dispatchers and Los Angeles police patrol cars were cut off by an equipment failure early Monday, but emergency service to the public was unaffected, authorities said.

A breakdown at the city’s radio transmitter facility about 1:50 a.m. prevented dispatchers near LAPD headquarters at Parker Center from communicating by radio with about 600 officers patrolling citywide during the overnight shift, said Earlene Jatkowski, a dispatch supervisor.

Jatkowski said 911 service was not affected. Dispatchers were able to telephone emergency information to watch commanders at police stations; the watch commanders were then able to use radios at the stations to direct patrol officers, she said.

“All it meant was that we did not have direct radio contact with the field,” Jatkowski said. Each division has a radio, she said, and was able to use its radio to communicate with patrol cars.

While communication wasn’t completely cut off, a tactical alert was called, in which incoming calls were handled based on their urgency.

“We still had an open line of communication with anybody who called [911] downtown,” said Lt. Ruben Sanchez of the LAPD’s Hollywood Division. “If the call was of an emergency nature, they would receive service. The routine barking dog call would not get a response until the situation was cleared up because of our need to prioritize.”

By 3:15 a.m., normal radio links between officers and dispatchers were restored at 17 of the LAPD’s 18 divisions.

LAPD spokesman Jason Lee said computer terminals used by officers in squad cars had also been disabled by the transmitter malfunction. The terminals were running again by about 4 a.m., Lee said.

Preliminary investigations suggest that the breakdown was caused by a malfunction in a battery-charging system at the transmitter station on Mt. Lee, above Hollywood.

“It’s just one of the things that happen when you have aging equipment,” said Linda Bunker, commanding officer in the Emergency Command Control Communications System Division.

“You just can’t replace every single piece every year, but we have fallback procedures,” Bunker said.

Normal radio communications between 911 dispatchers and the city Fire Department were not affected, Sanchez said.