Dallas PD's Loss of Terabytes of Case Data Could Affect Prosecutions

Dallas city and county leaders are trying to examine the scope of a data loss after approximately eight terabytes of Dallas Police Department information was deleted in April, officials said Wednesday.

The Dallas County District Attorney's office shared the disclosure, since it may impact some cases. It's possible that much of the missing evidence was already updated to the data portal prior to the data loss, said District Attorney John Creuzot.

In a memo, the office said that on Aug. 6, it was notified by the Dallas Police Department and the city's IT department that in April 2021, the city discovered that multiple terabytes of DPD data had been deleted while moving data involving a DPD network drive, WFAA reports.

"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," Chief Eddie Garcia said in a statement. "I have spoken to DA Creuzot, and we will be working through whatever issues arise together."