The last thing any police officer wants is to have his or her name, address and family members' names and ages publicized over the Internet.
But that's what has happened to some sergeants and many command officers at the LAPD. Someone put together personal information on the officers and their families and gathered it in one place for the public to see on a website.
"One of our jobs as police is dealing with some real bad guys and some people who would certainly want to retaliate against our officers for putting them in jail for lengthy periods of time," said LAPD Commander Andrew Smith. "Our concern is for the safety of our officers and for the safety of their family."
There's been a lot of speculation about who's at fault. LAPD recently made hundreds of arrests of Occupy Los Angeles members.
Commander Smith said they didn't know who is responsible for putting the officer's personal information on the Internet.
There is no sign the LAPD computer system has been hacked.
"It sounds like they gathered a bunch of information from a bunch of different public entities and pulled that all together, put it under the LAPD command officer's name and then put it out there," said Smith.
Smith says the LAPD wants the website shut down immediately and permanently. But apparently none of the information was obtained illegally so there's no legal action to be taken against the operators.
