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The Washington State Patrol lost emails and public records following a data migration failure last year.

In a story first reported by , the Patrol’s mistakes resulted in the permanent deletion of these documents.

After reviewing internal communications, PBS believed that possibly hundreds of thousands of documents were lost, but Chris Loftis, the patrol鈥檚 communications director, clarified in an email to the news outlet that the exact number of unrecoverable emails remains unknown.

鈥淚mportantly, we do not foresee impacts on active or past investigations and criminal records as any email would be replicated and recorded separately as part of a case file,鈥� Loftis added. 鈥淲e see this as a procedural and administrative challenge and not a challenge to our core responsibilities in law enforcement.鈥� The Patrol is said to lack an accurate inventory or method to calculate the total.

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The issue came to light for State Patrol staff in mid-2023. Internal emails revealed that the problem was first noticed when folders for certain lawsuits, which should have contained emails, legal filings, and attachments, were found empty. Missing emails also include those related to audits, policy changes, accreditations, claims, and certain vaccine mandates.

When asked if the agency had informed the governor鈥檚 or attorney general鈥檚 offices about the missing documents, Loftis confirmed that both offices were notified after PBS began inquiring about the issue. However, he was 鈥渘ot sure what other communications may or may not have transpired鈥� since 2023.

According to a spokesperson for Inslee鈥檚 office confirmed it didn’t get detailed information about the situation until Aug. 7. The Attorney General鈥檚 Office declined to comment because they said ethics rules prevent the office from sharing communication received from clients.

Internal communications within the State Patrol expressed concerns that the records management department would be 鈥渉ampered in civil legal defense for years to come鈥� due to the missing documents.

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鈥淣ot only will we be blind to information we need and surprised in litigation, but we may also need to duplicate huge volumes of work,鈥� one email read.

Loftis stated that the agency continues to 鈥渕onitor the situation to mitigate potential challenges related to the unrecoverable emails,鈥� but so far, they have not observed any 鈥渕aterial impacts鈥� and 鈥渁re hopeful that trend continues.鈥�

Bill Kaczaraba is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here. Follow Bill on X, formerly known as Twitter, and email him here.听