LAPD HQ Phones Down: System Upgrade Went Awry

Who ya’ gonna call?

Phones Busted!

The landline telephones at the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters have been down for more than a week, inconveniencing hundreds of employees and city residents.

The 911 system and all of the individual stations are working properly, said chief of media relations Commander Kelly Muniz, so public safety has not been compromised.

She added that LAPD cell phones and email addresses work and a couple of departments have been given temporary single phone lines.

In other words, call transferring (for the most part) is out.

For people who do business with the department, the glitch has been problematic, as it has for officers, detectives, and administrative personnel.

One employee wrote to her contacts list:

“Greetings everyone.  Be advised that phone lines at police headquarters are not working.  It is anticipated that it will take approximately two weeks for repair.  Until further notice, I am only able to communicate via email.  If you have an urgent matter that requires voice communication, please email me and I will make arrangements to call you via a cell phone.”

In other words, email me so I can call you – almost sounds like a “Dilbert” cartoon.  One wonders if the fax machines work.

While not disputing the timeline, Muniz said she hopes the department and its telecommunications vendor can have everything back to normal in the next couple of days.

“We’re working on this as quickly as we can,” said Muniz. “It’s frustrating, but since we all have other ways of communicating with each other and the public we’re making sure to keep working as normally as possible.”

So why is this happening? It seems that the department decided to upgrade its phone system, a project that should have been completed eight days ago.  But when April 1 rolled around, the old system was done and gone but the new system was, well, not there either.

Muniz said workers are on-site nearly around the clock to fix the system.

“We have to upgrade for the future,” Muniz said.  “Although inconvenient now, this will be a benefit for the long term.”