Fresno wire thieves cut CHP communications, send 911 responses back to the 1970s

Suspected copper wire thieves created chaos Saturday and Sunday after they broke into a fiber-optic cable junction southeast of Fresno, severing communications for the California Highway Patrol and also throwing 911 call response speeds back to the 1970s, according to a CHP spokesman.

The spokesman, Nick Ranger, said the break-in took place on High Speed Rail property near Railroad and Church avenues just after midnight. It shut down the CHP’s Computer Aided Dispatch system.

That forced dispatchers to revert to filling out incident cards by hand and then relaying the information by radio. Normally that information is typed directly into computers.

The dispatchers were forced to do the same thing for 911 calls, which are routed through the CHP. Only the Fresno area was affected and the problem had been resolved by Sunday afternoon.

The CHP’s CAD response system is normally available for public view, but was also knocked out by the incident.

Things became worse when repair workers sent to fix the problem were accosted by aggressive thieves who began looting workers’ repair vehicles. The workers fled until daylight.

Ranger said the CHP, in charge of security on High Speed Rail property, is investigating the incident.

This story was originally published July 23, 2023 at 3:13 PM.