Crime victims' phone numbers posted by mistake in Dallas

DALLAS -- An oversight by the Dallas Police Department exposed the personal information of hundreds of victims of violent crime, reports CBS DFW.

Dallas police admit to inadvertently posting the names -- and phone numbers -- of crime victims online, the station says.

CBS DFW interviewed more than a dozen violent crime victims who said they were surprised by what they found on the police department website, with many saying they're now worried about retaliation and harassment.

Police officials received a complaint about the matter on Monday, when people started noticing the phone numbers on department reports for serious crimes. In addition to the victims' contact information, there were also details about when and where the crimes were committed.

CBS DFW reports that while releasing the phone numbers is legal, it's not standard practice.

The station says it found phone numbers on hundreds of reports, dating back two months, involving assaults and aggravated assaults.

Authorities said problems with the police department's computer system were fixed Wednesday and that all of the phone numbers on reports previously posted have been removed.

Dallas police Deputy Chief Christina Smith said the department is continuing to "fine tune" its online public portal.

"There will be additional reports that will be made available, so it's still a work in progress," Smith said.

Officials explained that the phone numbers slipped through because the old online reports system needed to be told what to make public; the new system needs to be told what not to make public.

In June, a separate Dallas Police Department computer glitch caused the mistaken release of 25 suspected criminals.