SEATTLE – On one of the busiest nights of the year for Seattle Police, their dispatchers were handicapped after the computer system they use to track 911 calls, look up license plates and other functions, crashed.
The Computer Aided Dispatch system (CAD) does occasionally go down, but it’s a big nuisance when it happens on the Fourth of July.
The glitch did not affect 911 calls coming into the communications center at the West Precinct in Downtown Seattle, and it did not affect dispatching of patrol units. But, it can affect some functions such as running license plate numbers.
It also meant that all the calls had to be written up on a card and tracked by hand.
Mobile computers inside the squad cars were still working, so police response was not slowed.
It was not immediately clear why the system failed.
Report by KING 5's Jim Forman compiled by Travis Pittman
