Villanueva says LASD dispatch issues date back years

The failure of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s computer dispatch system on New Year’s Eve appears to have been years in the making.

Department officials told KTLA that the failure, which required dispatchers and deputies to record important details by hand and communicate by radio, had prompted a request for a new computer-aided dispatch program — otherwise known as a CAD — in December 2023, more than a year ago.

“The Department has long faced significant challenges with outdated technologies, and since taking office, [Sheriff Robert Luna] has emphasized the urgent need to improve and upgrade our internal systems,” officials said in a statement.

But the problems could be anticipated even further back than that, according to former Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who lost his reelection bid to Luna in late 2022.

Villanueva tweeted a letter he wrote to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in September 2022 calling for a new CAD and records management system.

“That’s a letter to the Board that they’re not going to want to see again!” he wrote on social media. “Here’s just a small quote, ‘It is not a matter of “IF” there will be a catastrophic and unrecoverable failure of the RMS or CAD system, but a question of “WHEN.” This failure will produce a significant danger to the citizens of Los Angeles County, which can be averted through the immediate modernization and replacement of the CAD and RMS systems.’”

Villanueva also criticized the Board of Supervisors for the LASD’s “massive staffing crisis” and the “transportation bus crisis,” and alleged that the Los Angeles Times did not adequately cover these issues.

The L.A. Times reporter Villanueva criticized, Keri Blakinger, responded on social media and pointed out that she had “literally just tweeted” the CAD failure story.

“What are you even talking about,” she added.

The failure of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s computer dispatch system on New Year’s Eve appears to have been years in the making. Department officials told KTLA that the failure, which required dispatchers and deputies to record important details by hand and communicate by radio, had prompted a request for a new computer-aided dispatch […]