Fullerton police said it has yet to have any technical problems after hacker group "Anonymous" threated cyber-attacks Sunday.
The group threated to begin "dismantling the City of Fullerton's interwebz" in response to the death of Kelly Thomas, the 37-year-old schizophrenic homeless man who was beaten by police.
Anonymous said in a letter that it would begin what it called "Operation Fullerton" at Noon on Sunday, but police said they have had no problems with any of its communications nor have they had any reports of internet troubles throughout the city.
Police said they did take the group's statemtent as a viable threat.
"There's been a cyber-threat made against the city of Fullerton and the police department electronic communication system," said Sgt. Andrew Goodrich in a statement.
Police said they never received a formal letter from the group, but were made aware of the threat through their ranks.
"Our citizens may be denied Internet communications with the city and police, however services including police and fire will continue to operate," said Goodrich.
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In the letter, which was posted on several websites and also read on a YouTube video, the group states that it "will begin to treat the web assets of the police, city government - and any other targets we deem in support or a cause of this incident with as much mercy as was shown to Kelly Thomas."
The group accuses the public of believing police "spin" for too long. It made specific demands it wanted to see done by the City of Fullerton and its police:
1) We demand the prosecution of Officers Jay Cicinelli, Kenton Hampton, Manny Ramos, Joe Wolfe, James Blatney, and anyone else involved in the gruesome beating, torture, and murder of Kelly Thomas.
2) We demand the immediate resignation of the Chief of Police in Fullerton, California.
3) We demand that the City of Fullerton immediately pay a lump sum settlement of no less than 5 million dollars to the legal survivors of Kelly Thomas.
Anonymous has threatened several other websites, including to "Kill" Facebook on Nov. 5. According to reports, the group is linked to several websites, one of which was cut off by Google AdSense in 2008. The group has also either hacked or threatened to hack other websites and organizations, including PayPal and major credit card companies after the institutions discontinued their donation services for WikiLeaks.
Police said they are taking the threat seriously, but that it will not impede the investigation process of the Thomas case.
"We are in the midst of several independent investigations related to the Kelly Thomas incident, and if officers are found culpable, they will be held accountable," said Goodrich in the statement.
