Updated: Fri Oct. 24 2008 8:13:15 PM

ctvtoronto.ca

The father of a missing Ontario teen is appealing to the "highest levels of Microsoft" to cut through red tape so police can investigate a videogame system which could reveal his whereabouts.

"The key to finding my son lies in this XBox hard drive," Steve Crisp told CTV Newsnet from Barrie, Ont., on Friday.

"Please, if you can speed up the process of handing this information over to our police, it could mean a big difference in our son's safe return," he added.

The situation began on Oct. 13 when Brandon stormed out of the house.

His parents cut him off from access to the XBox game "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" after he skipped school on Oct. 9.

Brandon had been obsessively spending several hours per day playing the game online, sometimes with friends but also with strangers.

Police have been working with Microsoft to decipher the names and locations of some 200 users that Brandon had tagged on his XBox, said Steve Crisp.

But he said that regulations and police protocol could slow the process.

"There are a lot of red tape and legal issues I know that Microsoft probably has, and the police probably have," said Steve Crisp.

Microsoft said in a statement that it is fully co-operating with law enforcement agencies.

Crisp said someone who met his son online may be holding the teen against his will.

"He's a really good boy, he's very good at school ... he's never done anything like this before. It's completely out of character."

Police found Brandon's bicycle several kilometres northeast of the family home.

A woman reported speaking to Brandon, who had been walking along a trail towards Orillia, on the day he disappeared.

Barrie Police Sgt. Dave Goodbrand welcomed Crisp's plea to Microsoft and said the family is doing all it can to find the teen.

"As a police organization, we have to follow protocol, so if this plea to Microsoft speeds the process, definitely, it will assist our investigation," he said.

"We'll take any help we can get."

Search effort

Meanwhile, hundreds of Barrie residents fanned out to comb through fields and bush in an effort to find Brandon.

Their efforts began Friday and are expected to continue through the weekend.

The search effort radiated outward from Burl's Creek Family Event Park in Oro-Medonte Township, which is just west of the teen's last known location.

Their search is just north of the police search zone.

"We are looking at a massive search area," organizer Charmaine Nolan said Friday.

"It is predominantly rural, so there is a lot of open space, a lot of fields."

However, police warned that such a large search area could produce false leads.

"There are so many discarded pieces of litter out there," said Goodbrand.

"We are only picking up things (for further analysis) we feel maybe are significant."

Goodbrand said Friday that more than 1,000 tips have come in, but none have led to a break in the case so far.

"We're still moving and shaking and moving full force ahead," Goodbrand said. "We're not giving up hope."

Up to 400 people are involved in the effort.

The search effort was spearheaded by the Barrie Advance newspaper, where Brandon's mother Angelika works.

The newspaper has put up $10,000 as a reward for anyone who can provide information about Brandon's whereabouts.

Another organization has added $10,000 to that amount.

With files from The Canadian Press