Criminal justice databases operated by the Virginia State Police were knocked offline Thursday morning when a fire suppression system was triggered in the data center located at the VSP Administrative Headquarters in North Chesterfield.
There was no fire, but the system’s activation adversely impacted the server that supports the Virginia Criminal Information Network and several affiliated programs.
A water leak within the suppression system’s cooling apparatus was the cause for the activation, according to VSP.
By midnight Friday, the IT folks had restored all but two data systems and webpages adversely impacted by the outage. The Computerized Criminal History and the Virginia Firearms Transaction V-Check system are now back in service and fully-operating for the benefit of magistrates, the courts and anyone wanting to purchase a firearm.
The Virginia Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry website is also back online and accessible to the public.
“State Police recognizes the seriousness of this issue and its impact on our many stakeholders, both in the public and private sectors,” said Col. Gary T. Settle, Virginia State Police Superintendent. “We have a corps of dedicated IT professionals and vendors working to restore VCIN and its programs as quickly as possible. I appreciate the patience and understanding of the public and the criminal justice community as we work through this challenge.”
The VSP Information Technology Division will be monitoring all systems through the weekend, as well as working to restore two final internal VSP programs impacted by the outage.
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Chris Graham
