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?

Toys
I don't believe this is the best way to catch potential abusers. It may even make the police's job more difficult as they are presented with "evidence" that may be unusable and the prospective abuser has now been tipped off that their cover is blown.

But not all of them will be on the police radar, so one could say surely its better to expose a number of abusers, rather than the police eventually catching one after the damage has been done over and over again?

I remember the Guardian Angels on the tube many years ago. They just stood in carriages on late night trains. They were very reasuring tbh. I always chose a carriage they were travelling in.

Police chased them away and now we have no one apart from an emergency button on the platform.

There's a difference to reporting a potential issue to social services and deciding that you're going to act as judge, jury and executioner in regards to a case of child exploitation.

The majority of these people are doing it for the notoriety and the chance to act the big man, not out of the goodness of their hearts. What they're doing is making their targets re-examine how they're finding potential victims and why they got caught (which resulted in just a slap on the wrist). This allows them to change their behaviour to limit the risk of being apprehended again by the police. You know, the people who may actually be able to effect an arrest.

So potential family ruining reports based on sometimes just a 'gut' feeling is ok, but exposing people who are clearly a threat is wrong? Really?

I agree with the rest of your post to a degree, and I know my view is very simple on this, but I just can't bring myself to feel that bringing these shits to the attention of the police is a bad thing

There are very strict rules to get a prosecution, and I believe entrapment might be one of these(maybe watching to much tv) This might drive some undergound. I do applaud them but they must be aware of the law, so as not to allow them to escape charges. The police are already on this and I do not think amateurs should jepordise this.

If they just want to expose them, pass the details onto the police, why the Roger Cook style filmed meeting for maximum effect?

The Craic....you don't know what they "majority" of them are doing it for. You have NO idea what has driven any of them.

YohedYoshoulderYonisandYotoes
"It still makes men nervous about chatting to underage women, and personally I think this is a good thing"

thats a fucked up attitude.

YohedYoshoulderYonisandYotoes
"Paedophile suggests children"
It doesn't "suggest" children it IS specifically children and pre-pubesant children.

I meant chatting sexually and flirting etc, not just conversations - I think more of those should happen so there isn't the uncanny valley of men never talking to any young girls or women unless its about chatting up.

Paedophile suggests pre-pubescent and young children to me, and I don't think it is fair to equate consensual sex between two people under 15 with paedophilia as some do.

Under 16 I mean obviously!

Yohed

Thank you for the reply, it makes more sense now.

No, I don't know why these men are doing it, but by choosing the name Letzgo Hunting I think we can make a pretty good guess. It seems like this is all a game, a hobby, and these pervs men are their prey. It almost mirrors how the people they're "catching" find their victims. It's entrapment and it can be used as defence against whatever they're eventually charged with, and could ultimately result in them getting off.

You haven't responded to my point a few posts back about how these groups can quickly evolve and become problematic for the community they insist they're protecting. How long before this guy gets frustrated about the lack of convictions his arrests result in and he decides to dole out his own punishment? How long before he gets it wrong and beats the crap out of an innocent person, or kills someone? That's my biggest problem with this whole thing.

Brilliantly put Craic what also happens if more than one of them turns up. You might think you are talking to an individual but could he be working for a ring of men that were planning to do something violent.

And if they have weapons of some kind?

The police would be planning back up for these kinds of eventualities surely?

This will end in something awful if it's allowed to continue.

I havent read all the messages.

I think it would be a better idea if parents spent more time educating their children about safety rather than potentially causing trouble as that is what i can see happening. I can see people getting hurt and the police not being able to use 'evidence'.

YABU. I abhor vigilantism and these 'well meaning' parents could ruin an on-going police investigation. I'm sure this will make some of you call me a peedo sympathiser but I've seen and been through more than you could ever imagine.

I know it makes me people horribly uncomfortable (which is why I think some people focus on stranger danger) but the majority of child sexual abuse happens in either the child's own home or a home known to the child. That's not to say that teens should not be protected online but I'd rather professional protection. I wouldn't take legal advice from a lawyer's father, so I won't take safeguarding advice from an amateur either.