What do you think of “paedophile hunters”?

[Username721]

Just curious really.

Are they doing the work of the Lord? Or is vigilante action never ok? Leave it to the police or is this sort of thing everyone’s business?

Dangerous vigilantes.

What do you think OP?

In principle, no, I think it would be better to pass information on to the police and let them investigate to protect evidence and fully support a conviction.

In practice, I have 2 in my family and I wouldn’t have minded seeing them rumbled by a braying mob, but that probably makes me a bad person.

Ultimately, the most important thing is what’s best for survivors and that is usually support. They tend to not care what happens to their abusers as long as they are supported by the system and people closest to them.

On one hand, police may not have the resources to catch these sick perpetrators out. So perhaps the paedo hunters could be seen to be assisting police in catching as many paedos as they can.

On the other hand, the question needs to be asked of what is the motive of these paedo hunters. Do they get a kick out of posing as children in chat rooms? A kick out of blackmailing/threatening violence against people? Are they doing it for the right reasons?

I also wonder if a paedophile has been caught via a ‘sting’ set up by paedo hunters, would the their defence lawyer tear the case to shreds and claim it was entrapment?

It would be interesting to see how many police stings result in convictions Vs how many paedo Hunter stings result in convictions

They do t have to abide by rules and often use dubious tactics. Their evidence is massively flaky and whilst they say they hand everything over to the police they don't. Often they allowed the "offender" time to delete any evidence that would be useful.

Cannot stand them and they do not do it for the good of the victims, they do it for glory.

I can see both sides.

Obviously the police are incredibly stretched and don’t have the resources to hunt these people and spend time with online decoys. As a parent and a generally normal human, I think that putting these people away is never a bad thing.

I do appreciate it’s often a very volatile situation though, involving people with no appropriate training or knowledge of the law.

A pertinent topic for me, as my brand new next door neighbour (in an apartment block) is a very recently released convicted paedophile. Less than 2 years for the worst category of image and video, makes me sick.

I want nothing more but for the fucking fires of hell to consume him, but he's literally on my own doorstep.

While half of me wants to give the local vigilantes his address / car reg / patterns of behaviour the other half knows that the best and only reasonable thing I can do is be aware, and watchful, and alert (and maybe change my WIFI network name to 'fuck off paedo').

I don't belive for a minute that they care about victims, they are just more violent men who want someone to have power over. I wouldn't be surprised if half of them were domestic abusers themselves

Complete nutters with a mob mentality. I remember the case of a Pediatrician who has her home regularly attacked.

This! It's just an excuse for mob violence

If they do it properly and professionally alongside the police they I think it is a good thing.
The police are sadly negligent in this area due to funding and lack of resources.

Shit. I’d hate that too.

Do you have children?

Agree with this. There's someone local to us who's assisted in a few arrests and convictions now by honey-trapping online, waiting until a meeting is arranged and then handing all the evidence over to the police (who have publicly acknowledged their work).

Sadly the police don't have the resource to hang about on chat rooms & TikTok waiting for a bite, but it needs doing.

@Username721 Thankfully (for once I can say thankfully) no. None that are full-time resident in the building either, but some who visit Grandparents regularly after school. It's a fairly small building so word won't take long to get around, and our management company are aware and sensitive to resident concerns.

Hopefully he'll get the unwelcome message and fuck off to live in the woods (or preferably in the sea) sooner rather than later.

Unfortunately it's almost legal now in the uk as hardly any punishment or detection, so it's no wonder people take the law into their own hands.

Many call parents who call out teachers and librarians wrong. I consider these people a sacred caste and think it's wrong that they are not being prosecuted as I disagree with the content of some of the books and lessons occurring, it's all a disgrace.

MATTHEW 18:6
That's where the groomers were advised to go.

Don’t they? How do you know police don’t do that? Do you have inside knowledge on how they utilise their resources?

paedophile hunters are nothing short of bullies who think they’re big men and want everyone to know it.

they are responsible for a lot of problems- people targeting addresses and families because it’s all online. They don’t always get the guilty either and it ruins lives. They present themselves as judge and jury and people assume guilt with no fair trial.

why do they need to stream it all online except to make themselves look important.

shouldn’t be allowed.

I think the ones who expose paedophiles & call Police when they turn up to meet their victim aren't the worst. They're flushing out predators who may have remained undetected. The genuine ones will stop filming when Police arrive & are generally peaceful

The ones who are a danger are the ones who turn up at the house of someone who's been charged with offences. There's been several in the Central Scotland area where they're driving the person out of their house & then turning on the Police who have to come & take the person to a place of safety before they get new accommodation- some were throwing bricks at the Police. They're just vicious thugs looking for what they think is a Justification for their violence.

This. As someone who works with sex offenders, I can state with confidence that they create far more problems than they allegedly solve.

I think a lot of them are paedophiles.

Only a paedophile would know how to attract a paedophile, would know what turns one on, and only a paedophile would be able to pose as a young child in order to gain the attention of paedophiles without being repulsed by it.

Are you really asking?

All those saying the police are doing nothing.

how do you know? Because they aren’t streaming it online?

do you have proof that the police don’t use any resources to catch these people?

or are you making massive assumptions?

i came across a live stream of one of their “arrests” as it was shared on a local Facebook page. The comments stated the person worked for a school within the Trust I work for, so it caught my eye. I am one of the people who would have been called to the ASV/LADO meeting if he was an employee or contractor with the school. The comments therefore were wrong on that fact.

i didn’t understand why it needed to be live streamed or recordings shared. If you are going to set up a sting, then report it to the police. You don’t need to show everyone. The persons life and that of his family would have been ruined, whether he was guilty or not as their details where shared.

Twats the majority of them. Uneducated idiots who thrive from Facebook likes and adoration. You can't challenge them or you get accused of being a sympathiser. But I really do object to the dangerous work they do, which often gets in the way of police investigations.

Also massively unfair and irresponsible to the families of those they 'sting'.

Thick attention speaking fuckers the lot of them

Seeking!