D.I.Y policing,the rise of online vigilantes.

[johnny.w 316]

I really don't know what the answer is. Remember last year the guy who took his daughter to Thorpe Park and booked into a hotel and the cops were called and both were questioned about him being a paedo?

There has to be a happy medium between not checking these things out at all and accusing everyone "just in case."

The online ones who are caught out deserve everything they get though. 

[mushroom 12,844]

I've had some funny looks when I'm walking around or on the metro with my daughter sometimes lol she's 15 and I'm a young dad ?

The hunters that I have seen or heard about, has always been after they have been convicted. If people are doing this and posting straight away then surely, that's interfering with an investigation and should be prosecuted as such.

[ChrisJones 7,975]

13 hours ago, Mohair said:

In my country we behead them in public and hang the body to show what happens to them

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/paedophile-rapist-to-be-beheaded-and-crucified-in-saudi-arabia-1814475.html%3famp

Here you give them nice jail and change name for protection

1

The good thing about not having immediate executions is that the wrongly accused have a chance to appeal. Hard to go back to normal if you've been beheaded and crucified.

5 hours ago, THE STIFFMEISTER said:

Neither did the general public to be fair 

I'm in two minds about that. On one end they were denied the information and it's been withheld to a degree. But when it came out they did nothing other than be outraged on Facebook. The only person held publically accountable in the Rochdale case was the woman that publicized it! The public got a pass up to that point but once presented with the information they did absolutely nothing. Oh hang on... they actually re-elected the people that failed and then covered it up!

5 hours ago, Kay said:

Thinking about it a grown man pretending to be a 12 year old child is downright devious , they must have studied the way they conduct themselves online to be able to convince the other person that there actually a child , now I do find that worrying

A group here in the US set up fake profiles in chat rooms. They use those chat rooms but they do not engage contact with anyone and wait for them to be approached in those channels. They build up a rapport with them and all the chats are logged along with any pictures that are sent by the perpetrator. Once a meeting is arranged they contact the local sheriff and then they're met at a location and arrested pending investigation. I honestly think that's the fairest way of doing it. Yes, it's borderline entrapment but if you're willing to drive for a couple of hours to meet someone you think is in the 10-15 y/o range then traditional methods of catching nonces are a little behind the digital age.

I agree it's extremely devious but when you read between the lines it's more about allowing the villain of the piece to incriminate themselves with the evidence they present than actually behaving like a child. I understand that there are some that will do it for YouTube hits, and that is a terrible avenue that society is taking but if you've got trained volunteers that are doing this discreetly and sharing pertinent information with law enforcement I can only see the benefit.

Edited January 14, 2018 by ChrisJones

[blackmaggie 3,376]

18 hours ago, WILF said:

My niece has Down’s syndrome......do I win ? 

Ffs ! 

I don't know what the win comment is about but but the fact your niece has downs just showed your comment to be even more ignorant 

[Lenmcharristar 9,724]

put it like this lads, if the state was doing its job and the punishments fitted the crimes then the people wouldn't have to take it upon themselves to police their own communities, but as we all know the police aint interested unless its a fag whos claiming hes been offended or a weirdo lefty snowflake hunt sab who squeals the loudest, makes ya think how high up the chain the pedos go for pressure to come on to get the pedo hunters stopped.

[Waz 4,252]

They are filling a void. Although it does feel like their could be a smidgeing of entrapment, but then again hat wouldnt stand up in court & these groups are getting convinction. I saw one the other day where the vigilante said he wanted to take the accused jaw off, the accused was pretty banged to rights and had previous for nonceing.

I think the police are gonna have to up their game in catches online nonces, seems like theirs an epidemic. 

 

[Waz 4,252]

8 hours ago, Blackbriar said:

Channel 4 showed an enlightening documentary a while back - "The Paedophile Hunter" - about Stinson Hunter, probably the best-known of the so-called vigilantes.

He's careful not to entrap online paedos, but eventually the "young girl" agrees to meet and he confronts them personally...........the men's reactions make it clear that they know they've been rumbled - no innocent misunderstandings here !

Most importantly, he hands his evidence to the police !

Worth a watch (if someone smarter than me can find a link ?)............

 

Loads of groups started after this,. Good thing or bad thing? ask any child or parent who has been groomed..

[Meece 1,957]

1 hour ago, Lenmcharristar said:

put it like this lads, if the state was doing its job and the punishments fitted the crimes then the people wouldn't have to take it upon themselves to police their own communities, but as we all know the police aint interested.

》》》》 makes ya think how high up the chain the pedos go for pressure to come on to get the pedo hunters stopped. ☆☆☆☆☆

Yes  you'd  think that they would be grateful for any assistance.

[ChrisJones 7,975]

34 minutes ago, Waz said:

I think the police are gonna have to up their game in catches online nonces, seems like theirs an epidemic. 

This part of the problem IMHO. They've got fewer resources and lack the ability to up their game due to budget cuts. The flip side is the technology has improved and there are fewer people investigating. Three decades ago you had to mail a video cassette. Today you can digitally stream and save it on an SD card the size of your fingernail.

I think the fundamental difference between the two nations, here, is that the Americans say "what are we going to do about it?" whereas the Brits are saying "what are the authorities going to do about it?" IMHO there needs to be a middle ground approach where the entire community is involved in dealing with the dark side of the online menace.

If the public isn't going to do their part for their communities then they don't deserve to live in communities. Reap what you sow and all that.

[scothunter 12,609]

1 minute ago, ChrisJones said:

This part of the problem IMHO. They've got fewer resources and lack the ability to up their game due to budget cuts. The flip side is the technology has improved and there are fewer people investigating. Three decades ago you had to mail a video cassette. Today you can digitally stream and save it on an SD card the size of your fingernail.

I think the fundamental difference between the two nations, here, is that the Americans say "what are we going to do about it?" whereas the Brits are saying "what are the authorities going to do about it?" IMHO there needs to be a middle ground approach where the entire community is involved in dealing with the dark side of the online menace.

If the public isn't going to do their part for their communities then they don't deserve to live in communities. Reap what you sow and all that.

Well they doing very little about there kids being gunned down are they.

[ChrisJones 7,975]

1 minute ago, scothunter said:

Well they doing very little about there kids being gunned down are they.

Low blow Scot. What's that got to do with catching online groomers?

[scothunter 12,609]

You were kinda slating the UK a bit Chris as if we do nothing here to stop it. Not done much research but I'd bet you would find just as much criticism over the pond when it comes to grooming aswell.

In fact watched spotlight the movie last night and seems money and religion took preference to over kids being abused in the states. Found it absolutely disgusting.

I will give you it was a bit of a low blow but I think you were a bit unfair yourself with you're comment mate

[ChrisJones 7,975]

5 minutes ago, scothunter said:

You were kinda slating the UK a bit Chris as if we do nothing here to stop it. Not done much research but I'd bet you would find just as much criticism over the pond when it comes to grooming aswell.

In fact watched spotlight the movie last night and seems money and religion took preference to over kids being abused in the states. Found it absolutely disgusting.

I will give you it was a bit of a low blow but I think you were a bit unfair yourself with you're comment mate

No sir I was just referring to the difference in attitudes. The Yanks have been vigilant against online paedos for a long time and they've already hurdled the misuse of the information gathered in such stings. A lot of them started as rabble-rousers but have evolved into law enforcement assistance tools that are proving very effective. As this topic has pointed out a lot of recent attention to online vigilantes is very new and is causing a very clear split it opinions here on THL.

The comment that I assume you saw as the perceived crack I believe is still relevant. There are many subjects in the UK where the common response is what is someone else going to do about it and I believe that's down to the handout culture that some have grown up in and we both know it isn't reflective of Britain as a whole. If I wanted to highlight an absolute lack of f*cks given towards victims of abuse I'd simply say "Rochdale" or "Rotherham" and that, sir, is what happens when professionals are left to their blinkered skillsets. If the only tool you have is a hammer then every problem becomes a nail.

There is indeed as much criticism, if not more, over here regarding the abuse of kids. You're absolutely right when you highlight religion and money. The catholic churches whitewash of scandal is pretty commonly accepted news in Europe. The LDS church is a much more local phenomenon to me and while we can argue the toss about who scrapes the barrel the hardest the common denominator is predominantly men in positions of power over vulnerable children.

The solution, IMHO, is a mixture of both attitudes and for communities to focus once more on looking out for each other. Everyone needs to be active in recognising the signs of abuse and everyone needs to be pushing the professionals for better training, more accountability, and a lot more action in helping victims and punishing perpetrators.

[Born Hunter 17,751]

12 hours ago, scothunter said:

You were kinda slating the UK a bit Chris as if we do nothing here to stop it. Not done much research but I'd bet you would find just as much criticism over the pond when it comes to grooming aswell.

In fact watched spotlight the movie last night and seems money and religion took preference to over kids being abused in the states. Found it absolutely disgusting.

I will give you it was a bit of a low blow but I think you were a bit unfair yourself with you're comment mate

Chris's comment on attitudes is something that is fairly well noted and you probably didn't realise it but your comment on guns is a classic example. In the UK we want the government to do everything for us in exchange for payment (tax), in the US they want the government to provide them with the minimum necessary to sort their own shit out on an individual and community level. That IS half the reason they hold 2A so dearly, it is their ability to protect themselves, they don't want to have to rely on the government to do that.

[dave88 1,565]

In the UK protecting yourself is a bloody crime in itself