Confidential data from anti-social behaviour cases was found on a national website following a computer error.

Data from the cases appeared on Hertfordshire’s local priorities pages, which are part of the Home Office website police.uk following an upload error from a system managed by an external service provider.

The breach was discovered on Thursday, October 9 by a Hertfordshire police officer, and the force immediately removed the data and began identifying cases for which details had been published.

A total of 61 cases were identified from which names and addresses had appeared on the website for five days, however there have been no reports that this was seen by any member of the public or staff from the community safety partner agencies.

Superintendent Andrew McCracken, head of crime reduction and community safety, 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.

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

Officers are now contacting people affected to explain what has happened and the action that has been taken.

Police and crime commissioner David Lloyd added: “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.”

Hertfordshire Constabulary has notified the Information Commissioner’s Office regarding the error, while a full investigation remains on-going and the affected webpages continue to be suspended.