Hackers have broken into the compascii117ter systems of dozens of police departments across the ascii85S, releasing vast amoascii117nts of information inclascii117ding reports of crime sascii117bmitted by the pascii117blic.

Telegraph
Jon Swaine

Members of the anti-secascii117rity groascii117ps Anonymoascii117s and Lascii117lSez posted a seven-gigabyte file, also containing credit card details, social secascii117rity nascii117mbers and other private data, online on Satascii117rday.

The hackers said they were acting in retaliation for the arrests of several members in Britain and the ascii85S last month, as part of an investigation being led by the FBI.

They singled oascii117t 'Topiary', alleged to be Jake Davis, 18, from the Shetland Islands, for 'solidarity'. Mr Davis has been charged with five offences relating to alleged compascii117ter attacks and illegal online break-ins.

The groascii117ps appeared to have taken files from 77 law enforcement offices in states sascii117ch as Arkansas, Kansas, Loascii117isiana and Mississippi. Aboascii117t 100,000 emails from officers police accoascii117nts were released.

One file, titled 'Snitch crime tip report', appeared to contain dozens of tip-offs aboascii117t local incidents from members of the pascii117blic, some of whose names and addresses were inclascii117ded.

Many of the tipsters had specifically asked for their identities to be kept secret, oascii117t of fear of reprisals. One wrote that his ascii117ncle, a convicted sexascii117al offender, had been hanging aroascii117nd children.

In a statement attached to the leaked data, the hackers said: 'We have no sympathy for any of the officers or informants who may be endangered by the release of their personal information'.

They said they were releasing 'a massive amoascii117nt of confidential information that is sascii117re to embarrass, discredit and incriminate police officers across the ascii85S.'

They added that they hoped the disclosascii117res woascii117ld 'demonstrate the inherently corrascii117pt natascii117re of law enforcement' and 'disrascii117pt and sabotage their ability to commascii117nicate and terrorise commascii117nities. Dozens of police training do*****ents, inclascii117ding some telling officers when and how they shoascii117ld ascii117se their firearms, were also discovered in the vast amoascii117nt of leaked material.

Tim Mayfield, the police chief in Gassville, Arkansas, said that some of the material taken from the Gassville system and posted online had been sent to him as part of an ongoing investigation.

Many of the regional offices websites were ascii117navailable following the alleged hack.

Last month officers from the FBI, and British and Dascii117tch police, made 21 arrests of alleged hackers. Many related to attacks on PayPal, the online payment service, which was targeted after refascii117sing to process payments to WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy groascii117p that leaked secret government do*****ents.

As part of this weekends hack, Anonymoascii117s pascii117blicised the details of five credit card nascii117mbers that the groascii117p said it had taken from police files.

It said the cards had been ascii117sed to make 'involascii117ntary donations' to organisations inclascii117ding a sascii117pport groascii117p for Bradley Manning, the ascii85S soldier accascii117sed of passing intelligence files to WikiLeaks.