SA Police resumes activities with Crime Stoppers SA after organisation cuts ties with parent company
SA Police have resumed its longstanding partnership with Crime Stoppers SA after the arrangement was put on ice over a controversial deal.
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SA Police have resumed its partnership with Crime Stoppers South Australia after suspending activities with the organisation over concerns its parent company was working with a major online pornography producer.
The arrangement was put on hold in March after Crime Stoppers International entered into a partnership Ethical Capital Partners in January.
The Canadian private equity firm owns multimillion-dollar porn giant Aylo, the publisher of PornHub and Brazzers among other websites.
On Friday, SA Police said in a statement that all activities with Crime Stoppers South Australia had resumed.
However, the statement said Crime Stoppers SA had ended its relationship with Crime Stoppers International this month.
“South Australia Police has enjoyed a strong partnership with Crime Stoppers South Australia since 1996 aimed at solving, reducing and preventing crime in our community,” SA Police said in a statement.
“In late March 2024, SAPOL paused some of the initiatives we have with Crime Stoppers South Australia.
“This was done as a result of concerns about a working arrangement Crime Stoppers International had recently made with Ethical Capital Partners/Aylo.
“Sharing SAPOL’s concerns, in April 2024 Crime Stoppers Australia ended its relationship with Crime Stoppers International.”
In March, an SA Police spokeswoman said the partnership with Crime Stoppers SA had been suspended “pending the receipt of further advice”.
The Crime Stoppers 1800 number and tip line were not affected by the suspension.
In a statement, Crime Stoppers Australia said it had ended its relationship with its international parent company because its partnership with the private equity firm that owned Aylo was “at odds with Crime Stoppers Australia’s charitable purpose, which is to advance the security or safety of Australia and the Australian public”.
“That purpose has been built on a foundation of trust with our law enforcement partners and the Australian people,” the statement said.
Last month, Crime Stoppers International deputy chief executive Hayley Van Loon said the organisation would work with the SA branch to review Aylo’s policies on preventing the spread of illegal content.
She said it was following the footsteps of other safety watchdogs, including the International Centre of Missing and Exploited Children.
“This is giving them a seat at the table so we can review their trust and safety protocols, benchmark them against standards by the Internet Watch Foundation, and that allows us to protect women and children that are vulnerable,” Ms Van Loon said.
A Crime Stoppers SA spokesman said the organisation welcomed the resumption of the partnership.
“This announcement follows a decision by Crime Stoppers Australia to immediately end its membership with Crime Stoppers International due to concerns about the ‘working arrangement’ between the international organisation and Ethical Capital Partners/Aylo,” he said.
“Crime Stoppers SA has confirmed to SA Police that it is not involved with, and receives no benefit from, the international partnership.”
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