AIBU to think that these Peadophile Catchers are not a bad thing?

[NeoMaxiZoomDweebie]

Just read about Letzgo Hunting. A group of vigilante parents who are actively setting up fake meetings with potential pedophiles and then filming them for evidence...they're recording internet conversations and posing as underage girls....creating "sting" operations.

The group have been the cause of 6 arrests...men who have gone to meet decoys basically.

I know vigilante activity is "wrong" but part of me is thinking GOOD!! GOOD go and catch these men. They're not beating the men up...they're not torturing them or anything they don't even reveal their names or anything to the public...they just inform the police.

How is that bad? They're not hurting the men who are arranging to meet children for sex....so....how is this bad?

Arrests don't automatically equal convictions though. I'd prefer to see more resources devoted to CEOPS to do this sort of thing in a safe, controlled way which is much, much more likely to result in actual convictions.

Well in an ideal world Wilson yes...but it's not happening is it?

Lijkk Oh thank god for you, so many people are ignorant to the fact that people attracted to teens are not paedophiles.

How many cases had successful convictions? Arrests don't count. whilst these men are being trapped by the vigilantes, they are not grooming other victims, which could bring about a prosecution and bring down a whole paedophile ring. This group could quite easily be doing more harm than good.

How many cases had successful convictions? Arrests don't count. whilst these men are being trapped by the vigilantes, they are not grooming other victims, which could bring about a prosecution and bring down a whole paedophile ring. This group could quite easily be doing more harm than good.

I think there thoughts are good, but playing judge , jury and executioner online is never good,

Maybe people invested in this should take part in actual police training so they can make informed judgements?

Doesn't bother me as long as they are mindful of not compromising any future conviction and work within the law. Child protection is an issue for us all, not just the police.

Woah, that sounds like legal trickery.. but I see the point.

Paedophile suggests children, but a 16 year old dating and sleeping with a 15 year old can be pegged as a 'paedophile rapist' even if the sex was consensual and led by a 15 year old female.

Being attracted to underdeveloped children is different to fancying young women who are sexually (but not emotionally) mature, and perhaps, gently, more explainable but its still clearly not acceptable.

There's a bloke local to me that has reached almost "celebrity" status on facebook because of his "hunting"

It doesn't sit right with me. Probably because the comments he receives are all misspelled peedo on every corner rantings.

It did make me feel rather ill when one of his meet-up's was in the woodlands that are a 5 minute walk from my house. My mate was actually in the background of the filming!

The law is a grey area when it comes to 14 year olds if they have been a willing participant in the flirting and until sexual contact takes place, mostly the CPS will not take up the case. I have dealt with the rape of a 14 year old whose case the CPS wouldn't touch.

Good something needs to be done, those adults could have easily been underage girls. These men must have exhibited concerning behaviour to warrant passing on their details to the police. Good idea, teir needs to be a rallying around of te community to help the police

OP sneer all you want about the female question, but a lot of first contact is done by vulnerable women who are used for this purpose.

this sort of thing does happen within the police force though, where police officers pose as young children to attract paedophiles on the internet.

My issue with amatures getting involved in this sort of thing is that they don't have the training to know how to act exactly within the bounds of the law. There are very specific protocols that need to be followed to ensure a safe conviction, get them wrong and you end up with a situation where someone slips through the net and is lost.

I think there is a place in society for this kind of operation, however it should be done under a properly managed programme, with strict training and protocols to ensure that the law is properly upheld. You can't just decide on a wim to set up as amature detective and go out catching baddies in a manner which you seem fit - it just doesn't work like that, however well-intentioned.

Not one of the names given to the police has resulted in a conviction as yet so not very effective from the look of things. All the men are still walking round free. It does say arrested but no mention of any even being charged. If it made a real difference then i'd support them but i can't.see one.

birds op doesn't want to listen to reason... I know you work within the area (vulnerable people) and I have too..... But no, op has decided just cos men were arrested she will focus on 'men'....

Suppose these 'hunters' are doing it for their own sinister reasons?? Who would know?

And yeah.... Once your teen is 14... Try joining us over on the teen threads op!

Go to any inner city pub and you will find adult men with underage girls. What exact magic happens between 11.55 and midnight on the eve of her 16 th Birthday? (You will hear asked). If people want to get involved with Child Protection then don't befriend the neighbour (as suggested on here, often) who is neglecting their child, report. Don't ignore DV (even if the woman is begging you to), but leave sex offenders to the police.

Why the need for the filming? They have pretended to be children fine.. so have all the evidence on paper of their chats so why cant they just get the evidence to the police and let them get on with it.
There are already a lot of loopholes these horrible people use to get free why give them any space to get out.

OP if you think that the most dangerous sex predator turns up to a first meet making it obvious that they want an abusive sexual relationship with the girl, you are mistaken. They do what most abusive people do, they build a trusting befriending relationship. They are a listening ear, a problem solver, who understands the young person, in a way they most adults around the child could never manage.

They would be better off sniffing around within their own family..... After all, that's where the majority of sex offenders are!

What have poor old peas ever done?

Why don't they go after the broccoliophiles?

We don't need self-appointed detectives. Police do monitor and catch such people, as far as resources permit. I know of one person convicted after just such a contact. Difference, is, it is backed up by training and proper knowledge of the law.

It is incredibly important not to inveigle people into this kind of conduct who would not otherwise be offenders, and I don't think this group understands that.

As entrapment activities go, these are remarkably suited to the crime.

The groups take forever to snare someone, it's all online, and the groups aren't doing anything beyond what a genuine victim would do. There's no difference to the paedo between real/fake kiddee - crucially, the groups aren't doing anything different to what a child would.

They don't pursue an offline relationship, which is what could make it entrapment proper, they're not actively persuading anyone to be a paedo, they're not offering children. I'm not sure it can be entrapment.

lljkk .. Thank you for posting the differences between individuals that prey on pre pubescent children as opposed to those that prey on 'teens'.

It is the hysterical use of the term 'paedo' that allowed Jimmy Saville to say, on camera, that he was not a paedo .. And be telling the truth!

He said this as a part of his Louis Theroux interview. He must have been laughing his revolting little head off.

As for the AIBU question ... I am undecided. Would be better if the police did it themselves but I guess it is a matter of ££££

They would be better off sniffing around within their own family.

This.

Peeeedo hunters, Peeeedos - it's all the same. I don't want to be policed by the local vigilante group, thanks.

Of course the police are flawed - but they're accountable

Amazing how many people seem happy to do without this basic safeguard.