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 😊

This man is a racist clown. He used to walk the streets of my area at night time videoing the people living there and accusing them of horrendous crimes, with zero evidence. Then he opened up a coffee shop. Now he's doing this. He's desperate for attention.

Oh my gosh this just gets worse! Would telling the police about him do any good?

The police already know about him! His name is Alex Cairnie. I don't know too much about him as when I hear his name I zone out but he's definitely been charged before.

Here's an old Reddit thread about him when he was roaming the streets in Glasgow..

https://www.reddit.com/r/glasgow/s/KYkKYl9vnU

They targeted a pediatrician in my area. Spray-painted pedo on the front of their house. Vigilantism never ends well.

This is definitely the impression I get now I’ve looked into him more - his videos make me feel deeply uneasy and give me the creeps how anyone can take him seriously is totally beyond me
And the fact he has over 150k followers is terrifying

Yeah thats the guy - how does he get followers does no one google him before they jump onboard?!

Because they have the same mentality. It is a distrust of authority/police/courts that lead to followers, they want to "sort it themselves"

There have been so many cases of mistaken identities. I wouldn't touch them with a shitty stick , leave the police to their jobs. Vigilante groups are not helpful

100%

I am deeply uneasy about adults pretending to be children and engaging in sexualised conversations with no membership of any law enforcement and appropriate therapy/safeguards. There is something very strange about people willing to do this. Not to mention the obvious risk of chasing fame/attention and monetisation of social media.

I think they are invaluable in protecting children these monsters should be named and shamed. It's not like they ever even get a jail sentence

We had a vigilante group turn up at work (supported living) the person they were after (service user) was already on sex offenders register but had somehow managed to get hold of a phone and was trying to groom a young girl again. They could have easily come to the on-site office and explained what they found but instead they scared and traumatised the staff and other vulnerable service users (none of whom had done anything wrong) threatening to set fire to the place, putting the filming on Facebook (never mind that we have vulnerable people living there who could be targeted when out in public as ‘guilty by association’) It was an awful ordeal - but I’m sure the vigilantes still thought they were doing right 🙄

Tell that to our service users many of whom are severely autistic or with acquired brain injury and didn’t understand what was going on and were scared and already find it hard to be out and about because of the way twats view them and even though these service users have done nothing wrong they get harassed by lowlifes purely because they live in the same place as a sex offender. And then explain to the loved ones of these service users as to why they no longer feel safe going into town, or swimming or to their day centre and instead want to stay inside.

Then you’re as dense as they are.

No I'm not. I care about children.

And what about innocent vulnerable members of society who are traumatised by these vigilante gangs? Do you not think their parents are worried and want to keep them safe?

They're nearly always criminal/anti social types, very very often with sexual abuse backgrounds, either adults or children.

Many have women as part of the groups who also have dubious 'relationships' with children often presenting themselves as protectors/saviours of missing kids or troubled kids who always for some reason congregate round their houses.

I can't say I've seen any of that

I may be biased because I have a relative who was abused online at 12 years old ruining her life

People always use the word vigilante, and then add that “we should leave it to the police,” which would be fine if the police took care of the problem, but they don’t. It isn’t their fault of course. I once heard a policeman say that if we pursued every man who views pornographic images of children, or grooms underage girls online, we’d need a separate police force.

We underestimate how many men have an unhealthy interest in young girls. True pedophilia (a sexual interest in children, i. e boys and girls around four or five years old) is relatively rare, but a sexual interest in young girls certainly isn’t.

We all care about children and are in favour of predators being brought to justice but I think the point is we need to make sure we are not just blindly following these groups just because they call themselves paedophile hunters and say some of the the right things.. we have to look at their motives and actions to decide whether they are actually doing more harm than good

We all care about children and are in favour of predators being brought to justice but I think the point is we need to make sure we are not just blindly following these groups just because they call themselves paedophile hunters and say some of the the right things.. we have to look at their motives and actions to decide whether they are actually doing more harm than good

I think I just have a blind rage in me when it comes to these excuses for human beings. I think if I came across the man who abused my niece I wouldn't be able to be held responsible for my actions.

I imagine everyone here cares about children. We can't allow just anyone to take the law into their own hands without putting innocent people at risk. If we all decided to mete out justice whenever we saw fit, there would be absolute chaos.

These people arent doing any of this because they care about children. They have an unhealthy fascination with sexual abuse of children, they like centering themselves, they like aggro and trouble and they like the self importance.

Dont delude yourself they actually care about victims.