Gardai cricitise paedophile hunters

Credit Checker Moose · 06-02-2019 4:36pm #1

Why don't you have seat right there?

Gardaí are majorly upset with online paedophile hunters.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/garda%C3%AD-express-major-concern-over-paedophile-hunting-groups-1.3783959

I wonder what the angle of the Gardaí is? Are they afraid of being exposed as doing f all about nonces online?

sbsquarepants · 06-02-2019 4:39pm

They should spend a bit more time hunting the filthy bastards themselves.

Victor · 06-02-2019 4:41pm

Credit Checker Moose wrote: »

I wonder what the angle of the Gardaí is?

They don't want their investigations compromised.

One group of people looking for paedophiles would actually be paedophiles.

Another group would be people looking to harm others and use paedophile hunting as an excuse.

Kevin Finnerty · 06-02-2019 4:44pm

The intentions are great, why cant they work together in this? Lots of reasons which might not look well if written down. Think of the UK rings that were exposed.

jimgoose · 06-02-2019 4:44pm

While child abuse is an emotive issue, it is not a good idea to have a bunch of unregulated, untrained, unskilled civilians performing ad-hoc police work like this.

oLoonatic · 06-02-2019 4:44pm

While I don't condone any of the behviour these people that are being "uncovered" for. I don't agree with how they are doing it. It is going to cause legal issues surrounding any court cases that may be brought against them. It could also be used as a defence too that they were essentially "hunted" themselves. They also might flee the area,county or country before the Gardai have a change to apprehend them.

If people were concerned, they need to fight for more garda resources and stop posting videos on the internet.

Boom_Bap · 06-02-2019 4:48pm

I like what they do, but they need to do it according to the law to ensure there is a conviction.

Secondly, they should really look at the racist/nationalistic/xenophobic nonsense and their own behaviour/language they use when doing what they do.

They should have some sort of trained Garda liaison to work with them.

frash · 06-02-2019 4:51pm

yourdeadwright · 06-02-2019 4:51pm

There intent is great ..........but Holy Jesus I can't stand your one in the video's , I don't even know why ,

Reati · 06-02-2019 4:53pm

Credit Checker Moose wrote: »

I wonder what the angle of the Gardaí is? Are they afraid of being exposed as doing f all about nonces online?

They were telling people not to post videos of cars or bicycles breaking the law last week. It was bizarre as it's not illegal to document a factual thing in public. I'm not sure what is going on over there but someone feels the need to point these things out.

circadian · 06-02-2019 4:54pm

By all means report potential offenders to the authorities but often they overstep the boundaries and make court cases more difficult as a result of their actions.

Pawwed Rig · 06-02-2019 4:55pm

jimgoose wrote: »

While child abuse is an emotive issue, it is not a good idea to have a bunch of unregulated, untrained, unskilled civilians performing ad-hoc police work like this.

Seems to work though. Isn't that how the rte guy was caught?

Credit Checker Moose · 06-02-2019 4:56pm

I was watching one of their videos where they physically assaulted an alleged paedophile. It is this sort of stuff that will cause them grief in the future.

Sinus pain · 06-02-2019 4:56pm

Having had to unfortunately deal with this in the past (online grooming) there was an awful lot of background work done before a successful arrest was made- contacting Snapchat, WhatsApp etc to get all the files and seizing computer equipment etc. I’d say it’s more processes and procedures and seizure of evidence (chain of custody) that the person doesn’t get away with it than anything else

Credit Checker Moose · 06-02-2019 4:58pm

Sinus pain wrote: »

Having had to unfortunately deal with this in the past (online grooming) there was an awful lot of background work done before a successful arrest was made- contacting Snapchat, WhatsApp etc to get all the files and seizing computer equipment etc. I’d say it’s more processes and procedures and seizure of evidence (chain of custody) that the person doesn’t get away with it than anything else

What training in the preservation of evidence have these people got?

artanevilla · 06-02-2019 4:58pm

Did some poor bastard get falsely accused and assaulted in Kildare a few years back?

I would question the motive of someone who pretends to be a child on the internet with the intent of catching paedos.

hatrickpatrick · 06-02-2019 4:58pm

The real problem here isn't the Gardaí, it's the courts. People who commit offenses like this should be jailed in terms counted in decades, not in suspended terms counted in months.

mad muffin · 06-02-2019 4:58pm

frash wrote: »

HAHA HAHAHAAA HAHAHAAAAAHAHAAAAA HA

They should recruit them and have them working legally to hunt down these god forsaken bastards.

Credit Checker Moose · 06-02-2019 5:01pm

major bill · 06-02-2019 5:03pm

There was a group that were very active on Facebook at the start of last year. I watched several videos posted live here and in the UK. While the intentions were good there was something wrong with some of them, I remember one where they cornered a young 19 year old man that was alleged to be texting a 13 year old or something (age could be wrong on who he was texting) and his father came down, bare in mind the people cornering the young man were grown men and women, the father tried to take the 19 year old away and a row broke out where you could hear the annoying NI girl threatening the father. Just didn't sit well with a lot of the viewers.

As said I think they mean well but throwing up the videos live is OTT, they even got the wrong person one of the times that nearly kicked off a massive row. It was this that the Police had issues with, some said cases fell apart cos of their actions.

Irish Guitarist · 06-02-2019 5:06pm

One problem in exposing people online is the potential for vigilantes. Even if you think paedophiles should be beaten to death there's the risk of stupid people going after someone with a similar name to the exposed paedophile.

The time your man from Lostprophets was sentenced, H from Steps got terrible online abuse. Hundreds of idiots did a Twitter search for 'Ian Watkins' and H, whose real name is also Ian Watkins, was one of the first results. People were too moronic to read any further or to even look at his profile picture and compare it to to the Lostprophets paedo so they just hurled abuse at him.

Although this was only online it just goes to show how stupid a vast proportion of the general public can be. Just look at this story.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/garda%C3%AD-express-major-concern-over-paedophile-hunting-groups-1.3783959

Apart from that there's the fact these women are putting themselves in danger by confronting potentially violent criminals.

Ruraldweller56 · 06-02-2019 5:08pm

Boom_Bap wrote: »

I like what they do, but they need to do it according to the law to ensure there is a conviction.

Secondly, they should really look at the racist/nationalistic/xenophobic nonsense and their own behaviour/language they use when doing what they do.

They should have some sort of trained Garda liaison to work with them.

Being proud of your nationality isn't a character flaw.

tigger123 · 06-02-2019 5:19pm

This is what happens when Facebook Groups get out of hand.

El_Bee · 06-02-2019 5:26pm

The problem I have with these groups is when instead of just taking their evidence to the police they make these videos/streams of themselves, comes across more like they're trying to build social capital online and become e-famous rather than actually pursue justice.

Gatling · 06-02-2019 5:32pm

They shouldn't be allowed to operate or allowed collect any kind of evidence that could be used in any potential court case .
They could potentially cause more problems than actually doing good

yourdeadwright · 06-02-2019 5:35pm

El_Bee wrote: »

The problem I have with these groups is when instead of just taking their evidence to the police they make these videos/streams of themselves, comes across more like they're trying to build social capital online and become e-famous rather than actually pursue justice.

id have to agree , I know there dealing with scum but they way your one comes across on the video's seems like she loves the power trip but then again I suppose the people they are dealing with are the lowest of the low,

CrankyHaus · 06-02-2019 5:45pm

I assumed the worst about these groups. However this article changed my mind.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/feb/01/experience-i-am-a-paedophile-hunter

Done properly this form of active citizenship is admirable and assists police. However the state is often jealous of volunteers encroaching on its turf, perhaps Gardai most of all: just look at how they have fought tough and nail against Garda reservists.

The cynic in me wonders if they're a little worried about well connected people being outed as paedophiles by a process they have no control over: maybe RTE producers, Gardai, politicians, judges. We have a long history of covering such things up, and I'm not at all convinced that we've completely moved on from that.

sbsquarepants · 06-02-2019 5:49pm

Credit Checker Moose wrote: »

What training in the preservation of evidence have these people got?

You're likely talking about a record of an online conversation or exchange of photographs or something along those lines.
They aren't sweeping crime scenes and looking to preserve / not cross contaminate DNA!

Anything that smokes these shít bags out of their hiding places is fine by me.

Church on Tuesday · 06-02-2019 5:54pm

jimgoose wrote: »

While child abuse is an emotive issue, it is not a good idea to have a bunch of unregulated, untrained, unskilled civilians performing ad-hoc police work like this.

Have to say I disagree.

Morale in An Gardaí Síochána is at an all time low. We don't have near enough Gardaí to properly police our cities and large town, never mind investigating cases of Pedophilia.

In England regulated security firms are booming due to the lack of visible plod out on the beat over there, in time, the same industry will catch on here and obviously pedophile hunter groups are active and do a lot of good work over there too.

I hope it catches on here too. Any help is good help at the end of the day and the more information gathered with the help of the aware general public can only help a police force that is struggling pretty badly right now.

Credit Checker Moose · 06-02-2019 6:01pm

sbsquarepants wrote: »

You're likely talking about a record of an online conversation or exchange of photographs or something along those lines.
They aren't sweeping crime scenes and looking to preserve / not cross contaminate DNA!

Anything that smokes these shít bags out of their hiding places is fine by me.

They would need a lot more evidence than that.

Credit Checker Moose · 06-02-2019 6:02pm

Unregulated self appointed vigilante gangs are not the solution to the problem.

Gardai cricitise paedophile hunters

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