On March 19, 2025, The Current Report received information from multiple sources that Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) experienced a catastrophic failure of its 911 emergency call system when the VESTA system crashed, leaving emergency calls unanswered countywide. Despite the seriousness of the situation, LASD failed to notify its own personnel in real time—and even more disturbingly, the outage was never recorded in the department’s official Activity Log.
The outage, which impacted every single LASD station across the county, forced calls to be rerouted to backup lines. However, dispatch sources have told The Current Report that during the crash, calls were going unanswered, creating a dangerous gap in emergency response.
Cover-Up? The Activity Log Omits the 911 Failure
Multiple members of LASD’s command staff at various stations voiced skepticism about whether the department ever intended to acknowledge the failure internally:
“I’m positive that I did not receive an email about it. And all members of command staff are on the list to receive those Activity Log entries.”
It was not until 6:27 PM, four hours after The Current Report’s Breaking News post was published, and almost eight hours after the system crash occurred, that a news release was released by LASD on Nixle Alerts. The Department claimed no 911 calls were dropped, but that statement is contradicted by sources inside the department.
A KTLA report also confirmed that every LASD station was affected, making it even more suspicious that the department failed to document the failure in its logs.
A Pattern of Neglect
This is not LASD’s first major systems failure. On December 31, 2024, the department’s decades-old Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) system crashed, forcing deputies to dispatch all units via radio. The Current Report was the first to report the CAD system failure.
Internally, some compared the situation to a “mini Y2K.” Sheriff Robert Luna admitted in January that LASD’s infrastructure is “outdated and inadequate,” but the slow pace of system upgrades leaves the public vulnerable.
Adding to the scrutiny surrounding Sheriff Luna’s leadership, he has faced severe backlash for his absence during the Eaton Fire disaster response and his failure to manage LASD’s emergency efforts. He was also notably missing from a critical Palisades Fire meeting with President Trump, where federal officials were discussing disaster relief and response strategies. The fires, which destroyed thousands of homes and claimed multiple lives, revealed deep failures in LASD’s emergency management. Instead of attending the high-profile meeting, sources indicate Luna left the area to attend a law enforcement union retreat in Carlsbad to solicit support for his re-election campaign.
This decision, along with the department’s failure to coordinate evacuations and properly mobilize deputies, has led to growing criticism of Luna’s leadership during times of crisis.
Former Sheriff Alex Villanueva publicly condemned Luna’s absence, calling it a “dereliction of duty” and accusing him of prioritizing political networking over the safety of the public. Department insiders have also raised concerns that Luna’s failure to deploy resources quickly during the fires may have worsened the destruction and loss of life.
Former Sheriff Alex Villanueva publicly criticized Luna for missing the meeting, calling it a “dereliction of duty” and accusing him of prioritizing political networking over crisis management. Department insiders also pointed out that Luna’s failure to deploy resources swiftly during the fires may have contributed to additional loss of life and property damage.
The LASD 911 system is a life-or-death resource. When it fails, emergency responders may not reach those in need. The failure to log the outage suggests that LASD leadership was more concerned about optics than accountability—at the expense of public safety.
LASD must answer for why they kept the public in the dark about a countywide emergency system failure.
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