Pedo Hunter in Area

The group I have heard of have assisted to bring many vile people to justice and imprisoned. Good job I say.

I think vigilante groups in most forms are dangerous, this is well beyond the general public's remit. The groups are motivated by their own egos, not child protection

It was a female paediatrician - Dr Yvette Cloete in Newport, South Wales.

Just naming her because often someone will pop up to say it's an urban myth that never happened.

Is it Spartan Hunter group or whatever he calls himself? Makes a change from him selling cocaine and weed to kids I guess.

Some of these types attacked a bloke once because he was a paediatrician. Not the brightest sparks.

I think generally vigilantism is ill-advised. I'm sure they claim that if they save one child from being abused then it's all worth it, and on the face of it that's difficult to argue with, but if someone is wrongly "exposed" it would be very difficult to repair your reputation. And given that people can apparently get confused between paedophiles and paediatricians it's obviously not a foolproof approach.

Because they’ll be making money from social media for posting…. Which is probably what it’s all about really…

I live in the US and whilst I am sure groups like that exist over here, the only social media groups/ pages I’ve seen are British. They seem extremely self-righteous and can’t see a thing wrong with what they are doing, which is basically exposing so-called paedos. Based on what actual evidence, I have no idea. Usually it’s one of the hunters pretending to be a kid online and arranging a meet and they turn up to film the mark. I have no idea how it’s all edited or if what they are alledging is true. Let’s face it, they could be targeting anyone at all.

If the police did a better job of catching paedos and the legal system kept them locked up instead of giving them short prison sentences, these groups wouldn't exist.

Oh right. Why the American spelling?

It’s not about protecting people, or helping the police … it’s about massaging thier own ego’s. Going round in branded hoodies, posting themselves all over the Internet. What about the wives and children of these perverts? Do they deserve to be posted all over the internet as well? These “Hunters” hinder the police and endanger lives.

I’ll never forget this case

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Bijan_Ebrahimi

I'm assuming you're in the US? I imagine the culture is a bit different over there. I'd have thought "paedophile hunters" here are just a couple of steps removed from Neighbourhood Watch.

I guess that, like everything else, some groups abide by the law, get the right person, and the police prosecute. another one of the streets
Then some take pleasure in tracking people, manhandling them, and broadcasting their whereabouts far and wide, often including other family members, thus making their lives hell.
Dedicated Police forces spend time tracking down these Paedophiles, but due to the usual cuts, their resources and time are limited. So, if done properly, finding these people must help them.

i had dealings with an individual who did this. He was an absolutely awful individual, MMA fighter, sexist and a bully. He only did this to assert his dominance over others more weak than him and for totally the wrong reasons. I am not a fan of these groups for obvious reasons and think any information that is gathered should be passed to the Police for them to action and not used as a way to gain attention and stroke their egos.

So worrying that people here are fawning all over him and offering to ‘ help’

Yes it is, OP, but that's what can so easily happen with things like this.
Someone convinces themselves it's really "Bob" they're after, puts together their own imagined "case" against him, and before you know it messages are flying around saying "Ooooo didn't you know??" and claiming to have the inside track on any proper investigation

And so what if "Bob's" done nothing at all? They've had their bit of excitement haven't they?

Well then it’s helpful that it is outing which neighbours and locals you want to avoid in the future.

It's impossible to vote because it 100% depends on how professional the group is, and how well they engage with police

This

There's a huge difference between those who investigate on their own account then hand anything relevant to the police and knuckle draggers who are in it for a bit of "Look at me", and OP's example sounds worryingly like the latter

I dont agree with them. The police have people who are trained to do this. And to me if they weren't interested in the attention they would just hand everything over to the Police, no need to do a sting. They get the wrong person and ruin their lives by posting it all over the Internet. They can mess up and people go free.

their mistaken identity situations are terrifying.

while im a woman so unlikely to be mistaken for one of them, it could happen to any guy who looks similar to a bad guy.

they need to help police not hinder them by forcing offenders into hiding.