Don’t do it!  Say Gatineau police

Vigilante pedophile-hunters on the rise

In the past few years, the Internet has seen the rise of vigilante pedophile hunters -- adult males who pose as girls on the Internet to lure out sexual predators, and then nab them. In Toronto, 29 year-old Justin Payne posed as an 11-year-old girl, texting conversations and setting up a meeting. Payne filmed the meeting and posted the video where it received over half a million views; he apparently took down the post after the man he caught threatened to kill himself. Mr Payne has been doing this for two years.

Mr Payne, who calls this “a civilian duty”, says that it’s easy to entrap a pedophile. He creates a profile on a dating site and posts pictures of adolescent girls. He is soon overwhelmed with messages from men of all ages.

 

Such vigilante efforts often do not work. In British Columbia, John Doep, leading a group called “Creep Catchers”, confronted a 27-year-old woman, Katelynn McKnight, charging her with attempting to have sex with a young girl. The woman committed suicide on September 7, a month after the confrontation, and Edmonton police are criticizing the group and its actions.  September 29, the Edmonton Journal reported, “‘What Creep Catchers is doing is a reckless one-off where there’s no repercussions. The person is free to go to continue to offend … It’s a reckless protocol with no oversight,’ said acting Sgt Stephen Camp of Alberta’s Integrated Child Exploitation Unit.”
 
“Bait and trap” can interfere with police 

So far, Gatineau police haven’t encountered anyone taking justice into their own hands, according to officer Andrée East. She cautioned, “We do not recommend this. You can’t know what kind of person you will encounter or how they will react to being confronted.  It would be sad if, in trying to ‘bring justice’, you end up committing a crime like assault. You are putting your safety at risk. And anyone conducting such ‘investigations’ may unknowingly interfere with a police investigation underway; it could harm our ability to make an arrest. Rather, we ask anyone with knowledge of potential suspects to contact us; we will investigate.”

One problem with vigilante justice is that evidence must be gathered according to strict procedures, otherwise, it cannot be used at trial. The ‘gotcha’ videos posted online are worthless, from a legal perspective. And, given that media posts spread like wildfire, people’s reputations can be ruined, even if they are not sexual predators.

Furthermore, vigilantes who post photos or videos of underage children on the Internet may themselves be open to charges of possession of child pornography. In short, while Creep Catchers’ intentions may be good, they are engaging in a dangerous practice that likely won’t result in real justice.  As Officer East suggested, it’s far wiser to bring any such information to the Gatineau police.