Case File
VARGINHA-026
Local police radio log goes silent for 41 minutes during transfer window
Forty-one minutes of nothing. Three to five entries per minute on either side. The log resumes mid-call without a word said about the gap.
- Type
- DOCUMENT
- Date of Record
- 1996-01-22
- Source
- Municipal police records release, 2008
Abstract
Excerpt from the municipal police dispatch log covering 02:01 to 02:42 on 22 January 1996. Forty one consecutive minutes contain no entries, dispatch acknowledgements, or unit check-ins, against a baseline of three to five entries per minute on adjacent shifts. Log resumes mid-call without a continuity note.
Artifact Inventory
- Log gap
- 02:01 – 02:42 local, 22 Jan 1996
- Baseline activity
- 3 – 5 entries per minute
- Gap entries
- 0
- Released by
- Municipal records office, 2008
The release
The municipal police dispatch log was released in 2008 in response to a routine records request. The release covers the full month of January 1996. The forty-one minute gap on the night of 22 January is the only such gap in the month and is one of only a handful of comparable gaps in the surrounding twelve months.
Pattern of the gap
Activity in the log immediately before the gap is at the high end of the routine baseline for the shift, with five entries in the final minute and an active vehicle pursuit logged at 02:00. The gap begins at 02:01. There are no entries, no acknowledgements, no unit check-ins, and no call sign drops for the next forty-one minutes.
The log resumes at 02:42 mid-call, with a dispatcher acknowledging a unit transmission that has no logged origin. There is no continuity note explaining the gap. No equipment failure is recorded for the shift.
What former dispatchers say
Three former dispatchers familiar with the system have stated, separately, that a forty-one minute gap of this kind would have required deliberate action — either a manual hold of the log or a redirection of dispatch traffic to an alternate channel. None of the three was working that shift. The dispatcher who was working that shift has not responded to requests.