Four specialized units of the Ontario Provincial Police have been using a divisive facial recognition tool since December, the force confirmed Sunday.

The OPP — one of the largest police services in North America — previously said it used facial recognition technology, but refused to confirm whether it used Clearview AI.

The U.S. startup relies on artificial intelligence to match people’s images against what it claims is a database of billions of photos scraped from the internet, including social media. Canadian privacy regulators have launched three separate investigations into the software, which critics have called “reckless” and “dystopian.”

The Star asked the OPP twice in February for comment on whether it used Clearview AI; both times a spokesperson declined to specify details. After the Star’s inquiries, the OPP launched an internal review to determine if officers had used the tool, according to a statement released Sunday.

The force says members of its child sexual exploitation, cyber-crime, anti-human trafficking and digital forensics units had been using free trial versions of the software. According to the statement, in one instance the tool helped identify victims, and that further investigation led to a suspect being identified and charged with child pornography-related offences.

According to the statement, OPP officers obtained access to a free trial of Clearview after attending a conference, “and not through the normal evaluation process relied upon by the OPP for the introduction of new software.”

After discovering that officers were using the tool, the OPP “ordered immediate cessation of testing and use of Clearview AI.” The force says it has reached out to the office of Ontario’s privacy commissioner and will be reporting its use of Clearview AI and “any other facial recognition technologies.”

In the past week, more than a dozen Canadian police services confirmed to the Star that their officers had used trial versions of Clearview AI without the knowledge or authorization of police leadership. All had previously told the Star their forces hadn’t tested the tool, and have since ordered their officers to halt all use.

All five police services in the Greater Toronto Area — Toronto and Durham, York, Halton and Peel regions — have confirmed their officers used trial versions of the tool. All have ordered that the testing cease, pending a review by Ontario’s privacy commissioner.

The Ottawa Police Service announced Friday it was launching a service-wide poll to determine exactly how many officers had signed up for a trial of the tool, after discovering that officers from the force’s Internet Child Exploitation Unit had created accounts. Edmonton police have also launched an internal review after determining that three investigators had used the technology after learning about it at a conference.

Revelations showing cross-Canada testing of Clearview AI were prompted by data obtained by BuzzFeed News and shared exclusively with the Toronto Star. Canada is Clearview’s largest market outside of the U.S., according to the data.

Clearview AI has not responded to repeated requests from the Star. Earlier this week, a Clearview AI lawyer told other media that someone got unauthorized access to the company’s client list through a “data breach.”

“Unfortunately, data breaches are part of life in the 21st century. Our servers were never accessed. We patched the flaw and continue to work to strengthen our security,” Tor Ekeland told other media this week.

Ekeland told BuzzFeed News that there are “numerous inaccuracies in this illegally obtained information. As there is an ongoing Federal investigation, we have no further comment.”

Federal and provincial privacy regulators launched a joint investigation in Clearview AI and whether its collection and disclosure of personal information violates privacy laws earlier in February.

Last week, Canada’s privacy commissioner announced an investigation into the RCMP use of the tool, and Alberta’s privacy commissioner lambasted Edmonton’s police as she launched a similar inquiry.

“Only after a data breach affected Clearview AI’s client list did we find out that, in fact, certain Edmonton Police Service employees had used Clearview AI’s product,” Commissioner Jill Clayton said in a statement Friday.

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“This situation serves as a wake-up call to law enforcement in Alberta that building trust is critical to advancing the use of new technologies for data-driven policing.”

The Star has also confirmed that an employee of Rexall used the software to conduct shoplifting-related searches; the pharmacy chain has since stopped using the app.

On Friday, a spokesperson for the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command confirmed it used a free trial version of Clearview AI but does not have a contract with Clearview AI.