A police force has been forced to apologise after the names and addresses of victims of crime were leaked online.

Confidential data from 61 anti-social behaviour cases appeared on www.police.uk, under Hertfordshire’s local priorities and the information remained on the website for five days.

A police officer discovered the leaked data on October 9 but the force has stressed there are no reports of the data being seen by the public or staff from the community safety partner agencies.

Officers said the information may have included victims and offenders’ names and addresses and blamed an upload error from a system managed by an external service provider.

Victims of the breach have been contacted and an investigation has been launched into why the information appeared online. The incident has also been referred to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Superintendent Andrew McCracken, head of crime reduction and community safety at Hertfordshire Constabulary, said: “The Constabulary takes the handling of data on its systems extremely seriously and we very much regret that the data breach occurred.

“Fortunately, the pages where the information appeared were accessed by very few people and we are confident that any risk to people whose information appeared on the site has been minimised.

“In our role as data controller we have referred the case ourselves to the Information Commissioner’s Office. We have taken immediate mitigating action and continue to ensure that any individuals affected have a point of contact within the police to support them.

“We believe that the information breach occurred as a result of a technical computer problem. A full investigation into how the breach happened is on-going and the affected webpages will remain suspended.

“The public can be confident that the details held on the system are now secure and confidential.”

David Lloyd, Hertfordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, insisted he is happy with the force’s response to the breach.

He said: “This breach is indeed a very serious matter and I am closely monitoring the Constabulary’s response.

“I am satisfied they have done their utmost to limit any impact and to prevent further breaches, however, I have asked for a report on what went wrong and lessons to be learned to prevent a repeat.

“We have had great success in reducing anti-social behaviour in Hertfordshire over the last few years. Much of that can be put down to the highly effective partnership-working enabled by this case management computer system.

“It is vital that we get it right and that the public and partners can be confident in it. I am determined to make sure that continues to be the case.”