Jacksonville’s policing slowdown continued Monday despite the city saying “all systems are functioning properly,” with about one-third of the normal number of defendants brought to court following an initial arrest.
On Sunday and Monday, there were 63 defendants brought by the Sheriff’s Office to first-appearance hearings. Typically, there would be about 200 defendants brought in over two days.
Duval County Judge Roberto Arias told The Tributary on Sunday he knew something was wrong when the Sheriff’s Office brought just 14 people to the morning first-appearance hearing. Normally, he said, there are “anywhere from 40 to 60” defendants in a given session.
Jacksonville Sheriff Pat Ivey and the Sheriff’s Office’s spokespeople have still not commented on the “suspicious activity” that the city said led to the systems shutting down. The Sheriff’s Office’s Calls For Service dashboard was still down Monday, despite the Jacksonville Chief Administrative Officer Brian Hughes saying Sunday, “The situation is contained, and all systems are functioning properly.”
Law-enforcement sources have told the Tributary the Sheriff’s Office’s usual dispatch systems were still not functioning.
State Attorney Melissa Nelson and her office have not responded to multiple requests for comment.
The FBI said its Jacksonville Cyber Task Force “has been providing assistance to the City of Jacksonville related to potentially suspicious activity on its system.
At least one Sunday arrest report noted the system outage affected officers’ ability to file reports.
The city has denied the suspicious activity was related to a ransomware attack, though it has not offered further details behind the security threat.
It’s still not clear how long the policing slowdown will last in Jacksonville or what effects it could have.