Non-Emergency Police Lines Back Up in Santa Cruz, Watsonville, Capitola [UPDATE]

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CA – UPDATE: MONDAY, APRIL 3, 4:20 p.m.

Police agencies in the South Bay are recovering from a temporary service outage that affected their non-emergency phone lines earlier today.

Residents of Santa Cruz, Watsonville and Capitola were advised to call 911 rather than the usual non-emergency dispatch numbers due to an unspecified communications problem late this morning.

The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office was also affected, and the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety could not be reached by phone either late this morning.

There may have been other agencies as well. The cause of the glitch was not immediately clear.

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MONDAY, APRIL 3, 1:29 p.m.

First responders in several South Bay and Monterey Bay area jurisdictions are advising residents to call 911 rather than the usual non-emergency dispatch numbers today because of an unspecified communications problem.

Police departments in Santa Cruz, Watsonville and Capitola have put out statements indicating that their dispatch lines are currently down.

The Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety also could not be reached by phone as of 11:45 a.m. There may be other agencies affected as well.

The cause of the technical glitch was not immediately clear.

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