Pedo Hunter in Area

[Noluckcatchingthemswansthen]

Not sure if this really is an AIBU just looking for some insights if anyone has any!

In the last couple of days a fairly well known ‘Pedophile Hunter’ group has made it known via social media etc that they are in the area where I live. It is a very small rural community and of course rumours have spread like wildfire!

I don’t really have much knowledge about these types of groups - I remember hearing something years ago about them on the news but never really looked into them. A quick google search shows a lot of debate about whether they are helpful or harmful
On the face of it it would seem like they have the best of intentions?! But they can become very violent and do sometimes get it wrong, target the person or wrong address etc

Some people locally are very excited about their presence and some are very concerned

I suppose I am just wondering really if anyone else has had any experience of this in their area and how it turned out?

for AIBU purposes

YABU - they are no threat to the community and only want to help protect children

YANBU - they are vigilante groups who hinder police investigations and often act on local gossip and end up targeting innocent individuals

Thanks for any insights 😊

Generally I'd say they can do good stuff but what was the point of announcing they're in your area?!

That just fuels speculation so you start suspecting an innocent neighbour... and then the real pedo if there is one, just stops contacting the hunter as he smells a rat, so that scuppers that investigation.

Seems like a terrible move to announce that

Eh? They don’t just hang around in random areas while the locals froth and get excited.

They catch them online and then turn up and confront them. Then they hand them to the local police and go home. I think there has been a bit of tittle tattle going on in your village OP 🤣

I assumed they meant "we've identified someone in your area" rather than physically being there

No they are actually here! Has has posted videos of himself in local places etc
This is what I’m finding odd I suppose

It's impossible to vote because it 100% depends on how professional the group is, and how well they engage with police.

The residents and police in my area owe a huge debt of gratitude to the very professional group that operates here.

They've helped to secure lots of convictions in the last 3 years.

Then they're an attention-seeking cowboy.

What on earth would they gain from letting people know what they look like and warning paedophiles of their presence?

Didn't someone killed himself after he was wrongly confronted as a paedofile and exposed publicly? I think is very dangerous to play vigilante, best thing is if you have information to go to the police but who am I to say?

The group round my area came to my work it was wild but in hindsight I was glad because they got the guy with evidence police came arrested him. Worst part was a few years ago he had a heart attack and one of my team mates was a first aider and saved the dirty B life. X

I think they’re a dangerous thing. We really don’t want vigilante groups on the streets. Also, look into the background and you’ll almost certainly find ‘Raise the colours/TR adoring dicks.

https://www.itv.com/news/granada/2024-01-31/man-wrongly-arrested-after-being-misidentified-by-paedophile-hunters

There’s a group of ‘guardians’ around here. They’re out on Friday and Saturday nights ‘protecting’ people from violence. Actually what they end up doing is harassing anyone who is brown/looks the wrong type of foreign.

their mistaken identity situations are terrifying.

while im a woman so unlikely to be mistaken for one of them, it could happen to any guy who looks similar to a bad guy.

they need to help police not hinder them by forcing offenders into hiding.

I dont agree with them. The police have people who are trained to do this. And to me if they weren't interested in the attention they would just hand everything over to the Police, no need to do a sting. They get the wrong person and ruin their lives by posting it all over the Internet. They can mess up and people go free.

It's impossible to vote because it 100% depends on how professional the group is, and how well they engage with police

This

There's a huge difference between those who investigate on their own account then hand anything relevant to the police and knuckle draggers who are in it for a bit of "Look at me", and OP's example sounds worryingly like the latter

Yeah this is definitely my concern - I’ll have to have a better look into them but from what I’ve seen so far he certainly looks like one of the knuckle daggers described by pp
so worrying then that people here are fawning all over him and offering to ‘ help’

Well then it’s helpful that it is outing which neighbours and locals you want to avoid in the future.

This is so true it has been very eye opening!

So worrying that people here are fawning all over him and offering to ‘ help’

Yes it is, OP, but that's what can so easily happen with things like this.
Someone convinces themselves it's really "Bob" they're after, puts together their own imagined "case" against him, and before you know it messages are flying around saying "Ooooo didn't you know??" and claiming to have the inside track on any proper investigation

And so what if "Bob's" done nothing at all? They've had their bit of excitement haven't they?

i had dealings with an individual who did this. He was an absolutely awful individual, MMA fighter, sexist and a bully. He only did this to assert his dominance over others more weak than him and for totally the wrong reasons. I am not a fan of these groups for obvious reasons and think any information that is gathered should be passed to the Police for them to action and not used as a way to gain attention and stroke their egos.

Yeah this is it exactly - so scary. But what if anything can be done to get rid of them?! I guess they aren’t doing anything illegal

if anyone questions his/their credentials etc they are immediately branded a pedo by his followers

I guess that, like everything else, some groups abide by the law, get the right person, and the police prosecute. another one of the streets
Then some take pleasure in tracking people, manhandling them, and broadcasting their whereabouts far and wide, often including other family members, thus making their lives hell.
Dedicated Police forces spend time tracking down these Paedophiles, but due to the usual cuts, their resources and time are limited. So, if done properly, finding these people must help them.

I'm assuming you're in the US? I imagine the culture is a bit different over there. I'd have thought "paedophile hunters" here are just a couple of steps removed from Neighbourhood Watch.

It’s not about protecting people, or helping the police … it’s about massaging thier own ego’s. Going round in branded hoodies, posting themselves all over the Internet. What about the wives and children of these perverts? Do they deserve to be posted all over the internet as well? These “Hunters” hinder the police and endanger lives.

I’ll never forget this case

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Bijan_Ebrahimi

Nope rural Scotland

Oh right. Why the American spelling?