So called 'paedophile hunters'

[motherofdragons33]

Apologies for sensitive subject but am I the only person who finds these so called hunters problematic?

There is a video currently circulating my social media of a 'sting' on a young man from a town not far from where I live. He has allegedly been talking sexually to who he believed was a 13 year old girl but was actually a decoy. The video shows the sting and is 45 minutes long. During the video he faints and his parents are involved, presumably this is a huge shock to them and they seemed confused and were defending their son.

The comments were terrible. Lots of people saying the parents must have known and should be arrested too. Comments about them looking like 'nonces' themselves. This is where I have the issue - people who have no involvement get dragged into the public lynching and have their lives ruined when it's probably come as a horrible shock to them too.

I'm not sympathising with this person of course, if he's done what he's accused of then it's sickening and he should be punished. But is this the right way to go about things? I can't help but feel like this type of Facebook vigilante justice is a bit of a glory hunt and is quite irresponsible. There are many cases where genuine police investigations have been hampered by them. And do the immediate family whether it's parents, spouses, children deserve to be dragged into something they know nothing about?

I find these hunters to be very odd themselves. Have they nothing better to do with their time? Bit of a bizarre hobby.

Similar happened local to us. Address was given out and the house was targeted. Windows put out, fires started but he wasn't there and the disabled friend who he was caring for was on their own. Not sure how he came to be a carer for them (not official channels obviously)but a friend who lives 4 down from them said it was terrifying. Went on for 4 nights police had to move the disabled lady out.
Yes find them but then hand over to police . Decent hunters are aware that such incidents can affect the court outcomes etc so do not encourage it.

This will be an essay but I have very strong views on these groups because my life as I knew it was destroyed by one. My ex was the subject of a sting by one of these groups (the individual seen roughing him up in the video was later charged with CSA himself). The whole thing was live streamed and the comments from the followers were vile. Saying that I was probably a nonce too, even though I wasn't featured at all, and should have my kids taken away. People were looking for him on the internet and actively trying to find an address to come and give him/us shit (the sting took place at his workplace not at home thank goodness and yeah his boss was well impressed, not). It was terrifying and every little noise or arriving back home after dark had me on edge for weeks. We had been going through a bit of a rough patch and I suspected he was on hook up sites as he had form for that but I had no idea of the full extent of what was going on. That day my house was raided by the police and I had to be assessed by social services to see if I was able to protect my children. My ex became my ex as a result of all this and he was banned from seeing the DC at all initially. They are ND and it was very very hard for them. I had to explain to people that we'd split. In several cases people we knew saw the video which was mortifying. I applied to the court to have reporting restricted and it was never featured in the paper, presumably as a result, because I don't think I could have faced it if it had appeared and my children certainly couldn't. Can you imagine the bullying and hassle they'd have been subjected to? In the end it took years for it to come to court and when it did it was quickly thrown out due to issues with the evidence. That was years of my life and my children's formative years spent living under that kind of shadow. It was like a living bereavement for them. Their dad just vanished one day and they weren't old enough to understand why. And now my ex is free to do as he likes. The shitty thing is that he doesn't deny it happened, just says that he was lured into it, didn't realise it was "real" etc. If they'd just passed on their concerns to the police it might have been different but now, he could be living next door to you. He is free to see my vulnerable children as he has rights. To go to parks and swimming pools where kids are. And social services are still involved as they stay involved, albeit low key, after concerns are raised and a person's trial collapses as opposed to them being found not guilty. I live with the stigma of that. Of having to admit to school, doctors, etc that we are under social services. People say they don't judge but it hardly conjures up images of white picket fences and homemade apple pies does it? People who know won't let their kids come to the DC's parties if they think he will be there. But like I said, he has the right to access now and can fight me if I refuse which would likely just make everything even worse. How is all this protecting anyone? Where is the "justice" there? So I think these groups are glory-seeking scum, wannabe heroes who just love rabble-rousing and acting the hard man. They appeal to the lowest common denominator and yes, as evidenced by what happened to one of them they are often weirdos themselves, hiding in plain sight as someone said. They should be arrested for interfering with police work, our local police have repeatedly asked them to stop. I'd like to see them banned outright and forced to apologise to all those whose lives have been ruined by their activities.

This is my concern,

I think, if someone has been tipped off by someone then they go after them, fair enough because quite frankly police don't do nothing.

But I find it very seedy to pretend to be a young girl/boy and seek them out?

The police.

Ahh no shit. Thanks so much for your help 🙏

Clearly the situation has changed and I am in a desperate situation or I wouldn’t be asking. I’m asking for ‘vigilante’ help or any hunters that would go out of their way.

I am one of the victims.

This thread should have shown you why vigilante “help” is a bad idea.

If you're a victim take your evidence to the police. Vigilantes don't make anything better.

It's a tricky one with a lot of layers.
We all know what the indivual did was wrong and its something everyone has a really strong opinion on.
I think if what the police did in response to paedophiles was better and stronger and more effective people wouldn't feel the need to take matters into their own hands.
These mass online hunts can get out of hand quickly and easily.
It's unfair on the family members for sure. It must be difficult enough to learn that your son / brother / whatever was doing something of that nature and dealing with all that even without total strangers dragging you into it.