OAKLAND – Full normal 911 service was restored Friday morning after an unprecedented computer and phone system outage linked to a copper wire theft and vandalism Wednesday night left police dispatchers unable to field 911 calls and dispatch officers from the police communications center, police said.
The computer dispatching system, known as CAD, was restored Thursday afternoon.
An update Friday morning from Oakland police said that phone service to all city systems had been restored after city and AT&T crews worked through the night to perform repairs to the damaged AT&T infrastructure. The update said the city will continue to work with AT&T to “harden critical infrastructure and strengthen backup systems.”
Police said no arrests have been made in the theft and vandalism that caused the systems to shut down.
Oakland police Chief James Beere speaks during a press conference at the Oakland Emergency Operations Center in downtown Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026. as the city worked to restore the ability of police department dispatchers to answer 911 and other calls after the phone and computer systems went down at the police dispatch center Wednesday night. Full service was restored by Friday morning. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
In the Friday release, police said: “Copper theft and vandalism of communications infrastructure are serious criminal matters that can disrupt services for customers, public safety and the community at large. The public should report to police any suspicious activity or individuals cutting or removing cable.”
At a news conference Thursday afternoon, Chief of Police James Beere said what happened “is a perfect example of theft leading to something far more severe and serious that could result in people losing their lives.”
An investigation is underway, Beere said, adding that he has reached out to the FBI. “We do have some leads that we’re following up on,” he said.
In a statement Thursday, AT&T said “damage to our network from theft and vandalism, including cuts to fiber and copper facilities, is affecting 911 call routing for some customers in the Oakland area.”
“Our technicians have been on site since last night and are working as quickly as possible to repair the damage and restore normal 911 call routing,” the company said.
In an update Thursday evening, the police department said its computer-aided dispatch, or CAD, system and internet had been restored. Phone service, however, was still impacted, and dispatchers were only sending officers to serious crime calls.
Beere said police dispatchers watched the CAD system freeze and display an error message just after 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. Dispatchers then tried both emergency and non-emergency lines and discovered the issue extended to phone and internet service.
About an hour later, all 911 calls were transferred to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, which is continuing to answer 911 calls and relay them to Oakland police dispatchers, according to Beere.
Fire dispatchers, meanwhile, have been able to respond to all fire and medical calls.
In his nearly 30 years on the force, Beere said he has “never seen our optic lines being non-functioning, our phones being disconnected.”
Efforts are underway to prevent a similar loss of service in the future. Beere said he met with the fire chief Thursday morning to discuss “exploring new technology that is not reliant on an infrastructure with lines that are running across the ground.”
Tony Batalla, the city’s chief information officer and director of information technology, said “we’ll continue to work with AT&T and our partners to mitigate and strengthen our infrastructure and ensure incidents like this don’t happen again.