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The Ottawa Police Service says it is temporarily suspending its use of Crime Stoppers after an exclusive CBC News investigation revealed the extent of a massive data leak.
In a news release Friday, OPS said it is aware of the reported breach, and “out of an abundance of caution,” it has suspended its use of the platform while the situation is reviewed.
The service said it is working to better understand the “scope and impact of the incident” and will continue to “assess any potential impacts on police operations.”
“While OPS and Crime Stoppers have worked closely in support of community safety, Crime Stoppers operates independently from the police service. The Crime Stoppers reporting platform is not connected to OPS internal systems,” the statement reads.
Ottawa police are now asking members of the public to contact them directly to report crimes, suspicious activity or information related to ongoing investigations.
“While we take the protection of personal information seriously and handle it in accordance with our privacy and information security obligations, it doesn’t necessarily offer the same anonymity as Crime Stoppers,” OPS said in the release.
CBC News analyzed a copy of the hacked data, finding more than 1.5 million tips submitted to Crime Stoppers programs across the country over the past 25 years were compromised.
More than 850,000 tips — about half of all Canadian records identified — included personally identifiable information.
CBC could not determine in every instance whether the information belonged to a tipster, a victim or someone accused of a crime.
Other Ontario police units have also paused their use of the Crime Stoppers program.
The Toronto, York Region, Halton Region, Windsor, Kingston, Cornwall and Hamilton police services all announced they have suspended their partnerships with local Crime Stoppers chapters.