The Dallas County District Attorney’s Office is now sharing information with the public about a data loss that occurred within the Dallas Police Department last spring.
Approximately 22 terabytes of DPD data were deleted between March 31st and April 5th of this year.
“This is an unfortunate situation, but we’ve been working closely with City ITS to ascertain what occurred to our files, are missing files retrievable, and how to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia said in a statement. “I have spoken to DA Creuzot, and we will be working through whatever issues arise together.”
So far, 14 terabytes have been recovered, with another 8 still missing, and it is believed they are unrecoverable.
The missing data includes case files that are dated before June 28, 2020. The only cases affected are those that were assigned a detective, and direct entry cases such as driving while intoxicated or evading arrest were not affected.
In a situation where data is missing from a case, prosecutors will collaborate with the police to build a written disclosure of information from the DPD and filing detective.
The DPD is working closely with the DA’s office to determine which cases may impact the loss.
“At this time, it is too soon to estimate how many cases will be affected and what the impact will be on those individual cases,” said District Attorney John Creuzot. “Chief Garcia and I have been in constant communication on this over the past few days and are committed to ensuring justice is served on each case.”