A major technical failure has hit the Metropolitan Police this evening, forcing officers to take emergency 999 calls by hand after a system crash crippled the force’s communications hub.
The outage, which struck the Met’s GRIP and communications centre near Lambeth, has led to emergency calls being rerouted to neighbouring forces, including Kent, as backup services scramble to manage the disruption.
Sources within the Met revealed that the force’s vital Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system — used for logging emergency incidents and dispatching units — suddenly went offline. In a scene reminiscent of pre-digital policing, senior officers reportedly handed out pens and paper to staff to record emergency incidents manually.
The full scale of the outage remains unclear, including how many boroughs have been affected and how long the disruption is expected to last. However, the impact is likely significant, as the Met is the UK’s largest police force and handles thousands of emergency and non-emergency calls daily.
A police source speaking under the condition of anonymity said:
“The entire system crashed, and bosses started handing out pens and paper to keep track of 999 calls. It’s a nightmare. We’re doing everything we can, but this is far from ideal for a force of our size.”
The Met has not yet released a public statement about the fault or its impact on emergency services across London. However, concerns are growing about how incidents are being logged, tracked, and responded to in real-time under the temporary manual system.
The CAD system is a core part of the Met’s daily operations, handling first contact with the public and coordinating rapid emergency responses. The force is already in the process of procuring a new Command and Control system to replace the ageing CAD infrastructure, but tonight’s events may raise urgent questions about system resilience and contingency planning.
Residents are still being advised to dial 999 in emergencies and 101 for non-emergencies. However, some delays may be expected while the situation is ongoing.
A Met Police Spokesman said:
- On Tuesday, 25 March the Met experienced a temporary issue with its emergency call handling system, whereby the force could not receive 999 or 101 calls.
- The fault was reported at 9.36pm and impacted phone lines were back up-and-running within an hour (at around 10.28pm).
- Some issues persisted with other parts of the internal system, but the full service returned to normal at around 00.05am (Wednesday, 26 March).
“Our well-rehearsed contingency plans were immediately activated and many calls were directed to neighbouring forces during the affected period.
“We have since resumed to a normal service and are working with our service provider to understand the cause of the failure.”
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