JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office recently announced it's dealing with a dispatch disconnect after a computer glitch left the recordings of some 911 calls lost.
Officials said there have not been any problems with receiving and responding to 911 calls, but the voice recordings of several calls are missing.
The sheriff's office said one of the lost recordings was from Jacksonville Jaguars offensive lineman Khalif Barnes.
Barnes called 911 after crashing his car on Sept. 29. He first called and reported the crash, and then police said he called them later that same morning to report the car stolen.
Due to his current probation, Barnes is only permitted to drive to and from work. So, when he crashed his car into a tree and left the scene early at about 6:30 a.m., it raised red flags.
However, the second call authorities said Barnes made was not recorded.
Details of why Barnes called 911 twice in the span of a few hours may never come to light.
"Voice files were corrupted, inaudible and even, in some cases, lost," said Chief Carol Hladki said.
The 911 technical glitch may have affected more than Barnes' case. Prosecutors and public defenders said both said the glitch could affect their cases.
"Legally, there're some circumstances where that 911 tape may be admissible in court and in the past we have had domestic violence cases where that was the only strong evidence we had," said Jay Plotkin of the state attorney's office.
"They can be vital, and if they're not there, it can hurt the prosecution or it could hurt the defense. We'll be looking into how it happened, whether negligence or just a technical thing … it'll have impact, I'm sure, on one or more cases eventually," said public defender Bill White.
JSO officials told Channel 4 public safety was never an issue connected with the recording glitch. They said they keep a written record of every call, but the audio from about a five-week span is what is not available.
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