Police tell of nightmare as server fault puts email system down for days

The Yorkshire Post has learned that all North Yorkshire Police officers and staff have been unable to communicate by email since last Wednesday after the system was taken offline.

The force revealed yesterday that the server is now back in operation and said an internal report into the cause of the collapse would be published towards the end of the week.

There is currently no suggestion that the problem with the email system related to a cyber attack of any kind.

Officers told the Yorkshire Post that it has been a “nightmare” few days, with many being forced to communicate via fax to help police the force’s area of 3,120sqm.

“It has been so difficult because everything is done by email now,” one long-serving North Yorkshire Police officer said.

“The Crown Prosecution Service advice, communicating with other officers, we haven’t been able to do it. Some officers have been left with a real backlog.

“It’s a relief that everything is going back to normal now.”

The problem with the email system arose late on the afternoon of Tuesday, March 27, and it was taken offline the next morning.

It was brought back online in controlled stages early Friday and was fully restored by 5pm on Sunday.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said engineers worked around the clock to rectify the problem.

“Contingency plans put in place to cover the lack of access to the email service worked very well,” he said.

“Every email sent to North Yorkshire Police and personnel during this period has now been received.

“We would again like to reassure residents that force operational systems were not affected by the loss of email, meaning there was only a limited impact on frontline policing services delivered to the people of North Yorkshire.

“Increased resilience has been built into the system as part of this work.”