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?

Agree with all of this.

Usually they have histories of sexual abuse themselves so it triggers them into taking the law into their own hands. Essentially taking some power back when they felt powerless. Their perps were probably never convicted so they have no faith in the system. I can’t say they really bother me to be honest.

I think they are violent and probably paedophiles themselves.

The ones that call the police aren't helping though. They call them and point and say he's a paedo and hand over fuck all and walk away to post on social media. Police then get slated for doing nothing. Evidence is what's needed and it's not handed over or if it is, it's not good enough to put through a court.

They call them and point and say he's a paedo and hand over fuck all and walk away to post on social media

No a lot of them hand over pages & pages of messages etc that have gone between the person & the 'child' The last one my shift dealt with had a 50 page file of evidence they handed over.

I think the problem is the filming. They turn the cameras on as soon as they pounce and leave them on to film the alleged perpetrator and the family whilst firing questions and statements at the person in question. Then it's posted all over social media.

There was one sting in the parents against predators group where they assembled at the wrong address, however, the previous group did manage to get some convictions. The threat of protests got Katie Dolatowski (convicted trans woman child sex offender) moved.

I sent them an article when my ex stepbrother was convicted of having several hundred thousand child abuse images. He was given a tag, no jail time so the courts obviously don't take the offences seriously enough.

They never did any kind of protest at his house. His name and address were in the paper so I'm hoping that people in the village he lives in are aware of what type of person he is.

I don’t see why they need to film it and post on socials; and I don’t agree with taking the law into your own hands like this - as far as they know the police could be investigating one of these men and then they’ve messed it up

Police should be doing it

If I were a paedophile, then the place I would hide in plain sight would be as the most vocal and prominent member of a paedophile hunting group.

I think that says it all.

or is this sort of thing everyone’s business?

When 'this sort of thing' was 'everyone's business' we ended up ducking and burning so-called witches - 'so-called' because it's mob justice and the wreaking of personal vengeance, which has no place anywhere.

One day these people will get it wrong and someone will die.

We have one local to us. He has been asked by the police to stop his activities because the “evidence” he gathers is not admissible in court, and is actually hindering getting these people locked up.

He has also started an online “news” page that reports accidents, and has even posted photos and names of accident victims before their relatives have been informed.

I think he is despicable.

Similar has happened to a few people my service work with. They've had lives ruined, their families have had lives ruined and to me sometimes it felt like the "hunters" were more grooming their targets than the other way around.

I agree with this. Anything to root out these horrors is fine with me as long as it’s done within the scope of the law.

Is it lack of funding? They knock on doors of every person accused of malicious communication for saying things like men aren't women.

You'd think it would be a priority.

I also doubt the motives of the hunters but doing it alongside the police won't happen. The police don't care. That's the problem. And therefore that's who I blame for the existence of these people, well not the police so much but the institution around the police.

A Pp who works for the police has stated they are doing it, she applied for a job dedicated to it.

just because something isn’t live streamed on Facebook doesn’t mean it’s not happening.

presumably the police have more reliable ways of securing evidence- seizing computers, access to online data etc than just going around knocking on doors and pointing fingers at people with the same name they’ve been in an internet chat with.

wasn’t there a 13 year old in wales with the same name as the “paedo” they’d been chatting with. Went to his house and did the full “sting” anyway. On a 13 year old who just happened to have the same name as someone on the internet.

worst I ever saw was when they stormed into the home of a man with clear and obvious learning disabilities. They stood over him shouting accusations and the poor man would have admitted to sending people to the gas chambers. He was terrified and just saying yes to everything they told him he’d done.

surely that’s now a “confession” which has to be dismissed legally. No solicitor or appropriate adult, and very obviously coerced.

Then the calls to arrest his career as well when someone pointed out his issues, as they “must be helping”.

idiots. The lot of them.

A lad commuted suicide where I used to live. He had learning disabilities, he thought he was meeting with a friend. He’d done nothing wrong. He had a capacity of around seven years old. He killed himself no because he was a paedo but because he thought the big men were going to come back.
Fucking horrific.

Just wondering if anyone had any evidence that the police aren't doing anything? Or is it just because it doesn't pop up on your social media or every person they arrest doesn't appear in the media?

They do more harm than good.

In no way do I defend paedos but a lot of people they honey trap seem not to be the full shilling.

This is where honey trapping etc is dangerous. This is so awful and once the mud is thrown it sticks

The ones who shout the loudest have the most to hide - hiding in plain sight

Agree.

I think it’s probably because the “paedo hunters” only have very blunt tools. They create profiles on bog standard platforms like Snapchat and insta, they have no way of tracking the IP addresses, for example, they can only go on names, areas etc.

so they only people they can reel tend to be those with LD, who don’t have the competency to realise a) what they’re doing is inappropriate, and b) that giving your name and personal details to anyone on social media is not a great idea.

the real dangerous online predators aren’t on bloody Snapchat. They are sharing images and worse of platforms Brenda from Ipswich with her photo from 30 years ago can’t even conceive of, never mind find, use and track someone’s rl identify on.

it needs much more sophisticated IT techniques.

there are massive official organisations like https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Center_for_Missing_&_Exploited_Children. who track and report online activity.

there’s no need for these bullies to be confronting people and messing up the legal case.

Very close friend was the detective in charge of child endangerment and abuse area of our local police force. Some shifts, she was the ONLY detective available to cover 3 counties. Schools would make safeguarding referrals that HAD to be investigated before the end of the school day, in case a child was released to an unsafe home. Sometimes she had 5 of these referrals between 9am and midday, and have 3 hours to review, investigate and assess them all. If she made the wrong call and allowed a child to be released to their career and the child then came to harm, she would not only have that on her conscience but she would lose her job. She was also expected to watch colleagues watching child abuse materials to grade the severity of the images/videos. This is on top of investigating active paedophiles. Over half of her department was off work with stress/depression and the funding was cut to the bone. She left after 3 years after seeing a child die while investigating a family member for being an abuser.

While I don't agree with vigilantes at all, something has to be done to stop the rampant abuse of our countries most vulnerable children. It's well known that paedophiles will target vulnerable single mothers, kids in care and children with behavioural issues. It's heartbreaking as abuse changes the entire trajectory of a child's life.

I think a lot of them could do with having their hard drives checked, using this concern as a cover, hiding in plain sight.

I know this will go down like a lead ballon but worth some people you can just tell.