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 😊

If the police did a better job of catching paedos and the legal system kept them locked up instead of giving them short prison sentences, these groups wouldn't exist.

Ah I remember that too so so sad

yep just noticed this guy does branded hoodies

I live in the US and whilst I am sure groups like that exist over here, the only social media groups/ pages I’ve seen are British. They seem extremely self-righteous and can’t see a thing wrong with what they are doing, which is basically exposing so-called paedos. Based on what actual evidence, I have no idea. Usually it’s one of the hunters pretending to be a kid online and arranging a meet and they turn up to film the mark. I have no idea how it’s all edited or if what they are alledging is true. Let’s face it, they could be targeting anyone at all.

Because they’ll be making money from social media for posting…. Which is probably what it’s all about really…

I think generally vigilantism is ill-advised. I'm sure they claim that if they save one child from being abused then it's all worth it, and on the face of it that's difficult to argue with, but if someone is wrongly "exposed" it would be very difficult to repair your reputation. And given that people can apparently get confused between paedophiles and paediatricians it's obviously not a foolproof approach.

Some of these types attacked a bloke once because he was a paediatrician. Not the brightest sparks.

Yeah now I’ve looked into him a bit more I can see he is advertising stuff on his social media pages

clearly in it for money and a bit of fame .. dangerous individual who doesn’t care if he ruins lives

Is it Spartan Hunter group or whatever he calls himself? Makes a change from him selling cocaine and weed to kids I guess.

It was a female paediatrician - Dr Yvette Cloete in Newport, South Wales.

Just naming her because often someone will pop up to say it's an urban myth that never happened.

I think vigilante groups in most forms are dangerous, this is well beyond the general public's remit. The groups are motivated by their own egos, not child protection

The group I have heard of have assisted to bring many vile people to justice and imprisoned. Good job I say.

Thank you! I didn't realise it was a female.

Izzy is great. Always enjoyed seeing her calmly take paedos apart.

Some one on my FB kept posting various videos of "stings" for a while.
Some people caught had very obvious and profound learning disabilities, but the hunters (and people commenting) still seemed to think they were the scum of the earth and needed lynching.

Sounds a bit like the Witchfinder General. IMO

I’m sure some of them do good work but I feel very bad for the families of the caught nonces. A boy in DH’s year at school’s dad got exposed (rightful, he was a pedophile and ended up jailed) but he had to move schools. The whole family had to relocate. These things should be dealt with by professionals in my opinion, but so many get away with it I can’t say I don’t understand the urge to go vigilante.

I don't understand the urge to post it all online either.
Send proof to the cops. No need for making it all public.

I don't like them and I don't agree with them. If they really cared what they were doing they wouldn't be doing it for likes and notoriety. Those who do hand over to police have already ruined any half decent chance of prosecution, evidence is poor or has been lost/destroyed. Yes they have also plastered people all over the internet and got it wrong. They have also adverted their home address so families get targeted as well.

They are glory hunting twats. And often they are very, very uneducated. They do it for the likes and adoration of other thick people on social media. They don’t care about the fallout for the family of the people they ‘sting’ - often innocent kids who have to go to school the next day knowing their dad/brother/uncle has been outed on FB for being a pedo. People have had their houses targeted with other family members inside. People have been wrongly accused. They don’t care. Some even get merch made - how is that about protecting kids? It’s all about their own ego.

They are a disgrace and given the nature of what they do, I often wonder if some of them aren’t wired up quite right either. Pretty sure there was a case where it was found that one of the hunters was actually a pedo himself.

Honestly they should just leave it to the police. If they must do it then submit the evidence and let the police deal with it. Don’t do all this vigilante bullshit, it’s completely unethical.

I suspect they mean well and can no doubt do some positive things. However, I’m a little uncomfortable with the whole confront and film aspect of this; I just think law enforcement should be done by the police. By all means assist but leave the confronting to them.

Give over. This is one area of policing that they are really hot on.

I never understand why the police and the courts get the blame for people committing crime. Maybe people could just be decent, law abiding people instead

What these cretins do actually hinders a lot of actual police work and can even prevent a prosecution as it can be seen as entrapment. They aren’t the knights in shining armour some people believe them to be, it’s all for their own egos. Likely because they’ve never achieved anything else in life.

Exactly glory hunting twats also grifters trying to make a bit of money through merch.

Why don't they just take the evidence to police? Well where's the glory in that!

Pathetic.

This is not about protecting children it’s about enjoying being intimating and their who’s

they don’t pass on evidence to the police quietly

I agree with you @XenoBitchabout no need to make it public...

but unfortunately these folk make money from YouTube and monetising their channel to earn from views.

So they have a vested interest in making it public, and sometimes don't even care how it affects the court cases.

The money they get? Well it's not enormous riches, but I am sure it all becomes very addictive / appealing to get all the likes and comments.

Perhaps the first few cases are bonafide busts of individuals who deserved being outed. But the minute the views start to go down on the channel, you have to feed the beast to get the likes, clicks and revenue.

Hence the announcement style "here I am in X place hunting out new wronguns", it just serves to drive viewership because you're creating urgency and demand to view.