On Friday, both the London and St. Thomas police services announced they would stop their collaboration with Crime Stoppers immediately after a CBC News report disclosed that millions of tips had been compromised in a significant cybersecurity incident.
They follow other police forces in southwestern Ontario, like those in Chatham-Kent and Windsor, who have taken similar actions.
In all instances, authorities emphasized that this breach did not affect their internal systems since Crime Stoppers operates independently from police services.
In a statement released on Friday afternoon, officials from the London Police said they would no longer participate in the Crime Stoppers program, noting that “participation will not resume until the service is satisfied that the platform is secure and that the risks arising from this breach have been fully assessed.”
Earlier that day, St. Thomas Police Chief Marc Roskamp mentioned “we will reassess our participation once we have verified findings and security assurances needed to make an informed decision.”
Both police departments stated that protecting the anonymity and safety of individuals providing information remains vital to their operations.
Members of the public wanting to submit crime tips should contact them directly using their non-emergency lines, according to police.
Crime Stoppers, which consists of a network of local volunteer-run organizations, has typically been a key source for anonymous tips for law enforcement. The London-Middlesex Crime Stoppers previously told CBC News it handled thousands of tips each year.
A CBC exclusive investigation on Wednesday – which examined hacked data – found that over 1.5 million tips submitted to Crime Stoppers programs across Canada in the last 25 years were compromised.
More than 850,000 tips – roughly half of all Canadian records identified – contained personally identifiable information. CBC News could not determine if every piece of information belonged to a tipster, victim or someone accused of a crime.
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