Identifying a pedophile to his neighbours

[Bipitybopityboop]

If you found out, through work, that a pedophile was going to live on a certain street near you.
Would you anonymously let the neighbourhood know?

Would you want to know?

This could not be traced back to one individual.

I know where thousands of sex offenders are due to my job, no I don't tell anyone. There is one policing agency in this country and vigilante behaviour isn't helpful to anyone.

A long time ago my friend (works for an estate agent) found out that one of her clients was a convicted pedophile & he was in the process of moving to a street close to a school. So she lied and told the vendor he had pulled out when he hadn’t & sold the house to someone else. Apparently he kept asking for properties near schools and I think eventually her company shared this info with all the other estate agents so they were careful

If he was convicted and on the sex offenders register, they have to register their address and that address be assessed by professionals, taking into account what their offending was, and the risk to anyone nearby.

Not an estate agents job to decide the risk. Them not having access to the conviction and all, or any professional training around threat and harm.

For all they know his offending may not have been around children and they’ve forced him to move closer to his offending target group.

This is a red herring. Given the upsetting extent of child sex abuse in this country there's someone on almost every street...

No I wouldn't say anything. Concentrate your efforts on making all children and young people in your life are able to advocate for themselves, have adults they can trust to talk to and use the proper terms to describe their bodies (eg vulva, anus, penis).

@RoseRedRoseBlue my daughter was molested at 3, I don’t give one shining shit if how I view beasts that harm children is considered or mature

@ConfusedAdultFemale I am truly sorry to hear about your experience, but it doesn’t change one thing about the content of your post and the impact that this would have on several other people, not just the offender.

@HepLaurenceLB

Yes I would want to know and yes I would tell. Pedophiles do not deserve anonymity.

If the OP acquired that information through the nature of their work then I would hope their employer would dismiss them immediately.

@RoseRedRoseBlue oh, in what way is me pointing out pedophiles are run out of town distressing to other posters? Or do you mean you’re upset by the thought that pedophiles aren’t welcome in communities?

Absolutely should NOT say anything. You don't know for sure it's true or that you are speaking about the right person.

And even if you are, you don't know the actual nature of the conviction, and it isn't your right to decide to give people the right to mistreat them and potentially even hurt them.

I have always behaved, and encouraged others to do likewise, as if paedophiles live in my neighbourhood- there will be plenty that have not been reported, prosecuted or convicted - always better safe than sorry. And there is no reason or excuse for divulging information you heard in work. You should, however, report to work that confidential information can be overheard by others not entitled to have this information

Of course I'd want to know. I can't believe how many people say otherwise... they do not deserve anonymity.

@ConfusedAdultFemale I didn’t say it was distressing to other posters, i was referring to the wider impact on the community at large, as several of the stories on here attest to. Don’t try twist this onto me.

@EmeraldShamrock

you would want to know so you could do....what?

I'd want to know so I could keep an eye on my DC and the little ones who roam without parental supervision.
Did you think I'd like to out them? Cause troubles? Definitely not, I'm a grown-up I wouldn't be responsible for any violence trouble or bloodbath.
If that's how you're thinking?

But you would (rightly) be doing those things already.

I understand the emotional response to this is quite kneejerk but the reality is that there are sex offenders in every village.

As a victim myself I understand how skin crawlingly awful that is, but robust safeguarding should be the default rather than something done when someone's record is made public.

Did anyone see Crime and Punishment last night? It was about police investigating people suspected of downloading and passing on child porn. It turned out the man they were investigating had abused as well and taken pictures of himself doing it.

The officer said it is estimated that around 3% of men experience sexual attraction towards children. Some will never act on it, some will view porn, some will assault children. Most will never be caught.

If you meet 33 men today, 1 of them is sexually attracted to children.

We need to be vigilant and safeguard all children. Policies and procedures in schools and youth organisations are set up to minimise the opportunities for offending and maximise the chance of it being detected if it does happen. We need to do the same in all spheres of life.

Are vigilantes going to beat up and drive from their homes 1 in 33 men? And if so, where are they going to live?

Leave well alone.

No because I’m not sure what it would achieve

Lots of people seem to think it’s their moral duty to protect these perverts or not get involved. That’s how the man who sexually abused me as a small child got away with it. Depressing to see nothing has changed.

@RoseRedRoseBlue Ok, let’s try again. I posted saying my community doesn’t tolerate pedophiles, if I knew a pedophile was about to move in id absolutely let my neighbours, who all have children, know. The only wider impact that has on my community is they have the ability to protect their children so your worry that my community will be impacted by running a pedophile out of town makes zero sense.

The only rule is be absolutely sure its true before doing anything. Also be sure its not a case of a couple years difference in a teen relationship.

It's a convicted pedophile

In that case, was the conviction reported in local (or even national) media?

If so, and providing you're certain this is the same person, I'd have no problem sharing it further on the offchance the locals don't already know

Did anyone see Crime and Punishment last night? It was about police investigating people suspected of downloading and passing on child porn

It’s child abuse, not child porn. Just because men wank off to it, doesn’t make it porn.

At my last house we had a neighbourhood facebook and someone posted anon that a new neighbour was on the SO register. He posted on there explaining his situation, past, etc. He also said he didn't expect anyone to be friendly with him. We kept an eye out for kids and women who lived alone in the area and everyone was cautious but we all felt much more reassured because we knew and he was open about it.

Although you'd never know every paedophile/ SO/ criminal near you, I'd rather know some information than none.

Can we all be mindful to not use the awful phrase 'child porn'. They are child sexual abuse images. I know nobody means harm by it, but it's really important to use terms that correctly describe what that content is.

Well, for one thing paedophile does not = child sex offender. There is having the attraction and there is acting on it. From what I understand, most paedophiles are born that way, it's part of who they are and they can't change that but they can, obviously control themselves and not commit child abuse.

For another thing, people often misuse the word paedophile. Strictly speaking it means attraction to someone who is pre-pubescent. However, you could, in theory, be charged with a child sex offence for having sex with a 15 year old when you were 17, which is a whole different story to abusing an 8 year old.

So the context is everything. However, even if, from the context, I knew for sure that someone was a danger to children (admission/conviction), I would not publicise it because it has knock-on effects not just on the offender but their family, and because I don't believe in vigilante justice, which would surely ensue.

@ConfusedAdultFemale I am not sure where this conversation has become confusing, but the point I am making is that spreading this info invariably causes issues of mistaken identity, as well as community unrest and numerous problems for the authorities dealing with said person. Hounding people out of communities does nothing but shift the problem and increase risk.

Frankly, I will never believe that when people let out info like this, they are doing it for good of others.

No I wouldn’t. It would bring so much abuse to the area, hate crimes, vandalism etc.
It doesn’t matter is a pedophile lives on the street, they have to live somewhere. Nobody truly knows what anyone else gets upto and should be taking precautions with their children.
They’re not exactly after fully clothed children are they op.