The Shadow
RICHMOND, Va. (VR) – By midnight Friday (Jan. 6, 2023), the Virginia State Police had restored all but two data systems and webpages adversely impacted by an outage that occurred roughly 30 hours prior. The Computerized Criminal History (CCH) and the Virginia Firearms Transaction (FTC) 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 (SOR) website is back online and accessible to the public.
By 8 a.m. Saturday (Jan. 7, 2023), the roughly 1,800 background check requests submitted via the FTC V-Check system during the outage were either fully processed or are in a review or research status. Responses are now being delivered to the requesting federally-licensed firearms dealers.
The Virginia State Police 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.
The outage occurred mid-morning Jan. 5, 2023, when the 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 (VCIN) and several affiliated programs. State police have identified a water leak within the suppression system’s cooling apparatus as the cause for the activation.
