By Police1 Staff
NEW JERSEY — Officers across the nation are on alert after a pro-ISIS group posted their names, addresses and phone numbers on social media calling for lone wolf attacks, Asbury Park Press reported.
The Caliphate Cyber Army (CCA) first posted threats against New Jersey Transit police on Twitter March 6 and then again on March 28, NBC New York reported.
The account has since been suspended but listed personal information of several officers. The data was originally posted in an Arabic-language file sharing site March 2 and had been downloaded 300 times by March 5.
The FBI was aware of the situation and was working with the Department of Homeland Security on the issue, NJ Transit Police spokesperson Lisa Torbic told the news site.
The local Policemen’s Benevolent Association called those responsible cowards and posted a statement on their Facebook page.
“Our officers show up each day to protect close to a million commuters and will continue to do so each day,” they wrote. “We will not let this deter us from securing what is considered a major target to groups looking to do harm to the citizens of our great country.”
Officers in Minnesota also were on watch after a “kill list” was leaked online, Duluth News Tribune reported.
The information of at least 36 officers, along with instructions to kill was posted on the messaging app Telegram by pro-ISIS hackers, St. Louis County Sheriff Ross Litman told the publication.
“It’s rather disturbing,” Litman said. “We have alerted all of our staff — primarily the deputy sheriffs — to be aware of the threats made and to be aware of their surroundings and remain vigilant.”
The executive director of the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association, Dennis Flaherty, told the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the information may have been hacked from their website.
“There seemed to be a common denominator that these officers all are members, they had requested a quote on their personal automobile insurance from our agency,” he told the newspaper. “And so the theory is that when they hacked into our website earlier that it was contained there.”
Threats against law enforcement are taken seriously, Litman said.
“The bottom line is we need to have a heightened sense of awareness,” he said.