San Francisco’s 911 system crashes one day after new dispatch center opens
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — San Francisco’s 911 system went down for several hours Thursday morning, one day after the city unveiled its new 911 dispatch center. The city-wide computer aided system which runs SF’s 911 dispatch went down at 5 a.m., according to the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management.
With the system down, 911 dispatchers were forced to go into manual mode. While this created more work for dispatchers, officials emphasized that this did not mean people were unable to contact 911 dispatchers, or that dispatchers were unable to dispatch emergency personnel.
Officials said it was not clear whether the computer outage and implementation of manual mode resulted in delays in answering calls or dispatching emergency responders.
The cause of the outage remains unknown, according to officials. The system came back online at 7:30 a.m.
The SF Department of Emergency Management provided the following statement on the outage:
“We are always ready for this. We have to be, because there are many circumstances that can require us to rely on redundant dispatch systems.
The purpose of our new CAD replacement project is to replace the current system, which is end of life. This is why the CAD replacement project is a top priority for the department.
The CAD project is a collaboration between DEM, SFPD, SFFD, SFSO, and SFMTA. The Departments have been working to evaluate, select and purchase a replacement system, through a needs assessment and RFP procurement process. A vendor was selected, and contract negotiations were completed in early 2024.
The rollout of the new system is a large and complex project, and will include a complete refresh of system hardware, software, and networking technology for DEM. During this transition period we will continue to experience intermittent operational disruptions, but these have not impacted the public’s ability to call 911 or our ability to dispatch emergency services.“
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