On Sunday January 19, 2019 a descriptive and lengthy social media entry was made on the facebook platform regarding an attempted child abduction that had allegedly occurred in the City of Owen Sound involving persons operating a black vehicle with tinted windows.

The Criminal Investigations Branch has completed its investigation into the allegations that were described in the online post, and have determined conclusively that the incident did not happen as reported.

The aforementioned facebook post had more than 400 interactions, 250 comments and was shared more than 1,300 times and required the allocation of police resources to determine that invalidity.

Our priority is Community Safety. We remind the public that social media posts are difficult to fact check and in some cases the post may be unintentionally misconstrued.

We have not received reports of any attempted child abduction immediately prior to this facebook post, nor have we received any after the investigation commenced.

We remind the public to always be aware of their surroundings and to report incidents immediately to the police and to always call 9-1-1 in an emergency.

source: media release, OSPS