Copper wire theft cripples Oakland’s 911 system for two days
A theft of copper and fiber-optic cables damaged AT&T infrastructure, knocking out Oakland’s emergency phone lines, internet and computer-aided dispatch, forcing calls to be rerouted for nearly two days.
On Wednesday evening, thieves cut both copper and fiber-optic cables belonging to AT&T, causing a massive communications failure that shut down Oakland’s 911 phone lines, internet access and its computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system. The loss forced police dispatchers to freeze, and incoming calls were quickly rerouted to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, which then passed emergencies back to Oakland police while fire dispatchers kept handling medical and fire calls.
Authorities limited police response to the most serious crimes as technicians repaired the damaged network. The outage spread to other California areas, with Riverside County and Santa Barbara experiencing temporary 911 access problems, though no connection to the Oakland vandalism was confirmed. By Thursday afternoon the CAD system was back online, but phone service remained spotty until Friday morning when full restoration was achieved. Oakland Police Chief James Beere, a veteran of the department, said the incident highlighted the danger of cable theft and launched a probe, contacting the FBI and urging residents to report suspicious cable activity.
Why it matters
The incident shows how cable theft can cripple emergency services and put public safety at risk.
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