7,500 people to get texts asking for info in Frederick John Hatch homicide, OPP say

In a move they're describing as "extraordinary" and "unprecedented," Ontario Provincial Police will send text messages to about 7,500 people on Thursday to ask for information about an unsolved homicide.

Investigators are calling it a "digital canvass" the high-tech equivalent of knocking on thousands of doors for information.

The partially burned body of Frederick John Hatch, a 65-year-old from Toronto, was discovered by a motorist on the side of a roadnear Erin, Ont. a small community about 50 kilometres west of Toronto.

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The body was foundjust before 6:45 a.m. ET on Dec. 17, 2015. It was located east of 10th Line off Wellington Road 124, just north of Erin.

Hatch had last been seen in Ottawa the day before, at about 1 p.m., inside a Dollar Tree discountstore near West Hunt Club andMerivaleroads.

OPP don't know how he got from Ottawa to Erin, but Hatch was known to hitchhike. When he died he was wearing a denim vest with Disney characters on the back, a black leather jacket, a blue andwhite bandana, glasses andblack Harley Davidson boots. Hewas carrying a red duffel bag.

'Afew simple questions'

The texts one in English and one in French will be sentto thousands of people Thursday.

The numbers were obtained from a cell tower near the Ottawa discount store.

The textswill ask people to head to a website to "voluntarily answer a few simple questions to possibly help the OPP solve this murder," according to an OPP media release issued Wednesday.

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OPP obtained the numbers from cellphone companies by filing a court order. No names or other contact information wasprovided, OPP said.

The force will keep the numbers on file until the killing is solved, officers said at a news conference on Wednesday.

Investigators will also consider calling the numbers of peoplewho don't respond voluntarily, but they would be required to obtain another court order to do so.

Anyone with information about Hatch's murder is askedto call OPPat 1-888-310-1122 or the nearest police authority, or anonymously viaCrime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

Anyone who receives a text message also has the option to call the OPP's dedicated tip line at 1-844-677-5010 to speak directly with a homicide investigator.

'Innovative technique'

Federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, who is not directly responsible for the actions of the province-runOPP, said this process could be a productive crime-solving measure if used judiciously.

"The police are using an innovative technique in doing this," he said Wednesday.

"They will need to be sure that they are explicitlyfollowing the law and the charter and all of the provisions about court supervision that apply in order to make sure that they are pursuing this matter appropriately and with all the proper safeguards in place."

Ann Cavoukian, the province's former information and privacy commissioner, said the process should raise some red flags because of the possibility of "function creep," in that the police are collecting massive amounts of metadata on law-abiding citizens and they could go further still.

"We live in a free and democratic society, without having to account for our time and whereabouts," she said in an interview.

Former privacy czar 'nervous'

She also said she is "nervous" that the information obtained in this casecould end up being used in another.

"I was hoping that if the individual they texted didn't respond within pre-determined period of timethemetadata would be destroyed, but already that's not the intention.I would want some really strong controls."

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The former commissioner, and nowdirector of the Privacy and Big Data Institute at RyersonUniversity in Toronto, saidthere could also be the presumption of guilt if someone decides not to respond to the OPP's text anon-answer could be seen as an admission of wrongdoing.

"If you don't respondmaybe you have something to hide? Privacy is all about freedom, and we have to be able to preserve that freedom, and not be looking over our shoulders."

Det. Insp. Andy Raffay said those fears are largely unfounded, and the police can be trusted to protect informationlawfully obtained through a court order.

"The cellular numbers received through the production order remain part of an active homicide investigation, and they will be kept confidential. I want to emphasize responding to the text message and answering the simple questions is completely voluntary," he said.