Barrie Police are suspending promotion of Crime Stoppers as a reporting option following a cybersecurity breach involving a third-party platform used by Crime Stoppers organizations across Canada.
Police say they're not currently aware of any impact the breach may have had on Barrie Police investigations.
The incident involves P3, a tip-management platform operated by Navigate360.
A CBC investigation identified more than 1.5 million tips submitted to Canadian Crime Stoppers programs in the leaked data, spanning about 25 years.
About 850,000 records contained personal information, including details that could potentially identify people who submitted tips or were mentioned in them. CBC reported that it could not determine, in every case, whose information was included.
CBC's analysis identified 38,634 tip records associated with Crime Stoppers of Simcoe-Dufferin-Muskoka, representing about two per cent of the Canadian records in its analysis. That does not mean that 38,634 people were identified.
Barrie 360 has reached out to Crime Stoppers of Simcoe-Dufferin-Muskoka for comment.
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Barrie Police say they recognize the serious concerns the breach raises, particularly for people who provided information expecting to remain anonymous.
Anyone with information about an investigation is being asked to contact Barrie Police directly at 705-725-7025 or submit a report online https://www.barriepolice.ca/services/online-reporting/.
In an emergency or if a crime is in progress, call 911.
Police say they’ll continue monitoring developments and share updates as they become available.
