Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Police warning as paedophile ‘hunts’ erupt in violence
Police have warned against vigilantism after a series of confrontations between self-styled paedophile hunters and suspected sex offenders.
The Hunted One group has recently been streaming live footage of members pouncing on several alleged sexual predators after undercover stings but now the head of Kent Police’s public protection unit has spoken of the force’s “significant concerns” about people taking the law into their own hands.
Chief Superintendent Tom Richards said: “We would strongly advise against getting involved in, or setting up activities to entrap those suspected of intending to commit offences.
“Although seemingly wellmeaning, this can significantly hinder our work, compromise ongoing investigations and negate months of investigative work.
“There is also the risk that it can potentially identify people who are completely innocent and mistakenly associate them with grooming offences.
“I would add that while police have resources and expertise to protect the vulnerable and people with mental health issues, members of the public generally do not, and can cause such individuals to be placed at serious risk of harm.”
Ch Supt Richards said keeping children safe is a “top priority” for police, which has specialist paedophile online investigation and child sexual exploitation teams.
He added: “Evidence-gathering is a very specialist job and can take considerable time and skill to ensure it is of sufficient quality to bring a high-risk offender to justice.
“I would therefore urge anyone who believes they have information or evidence of online grooming, or knows that a suspect is planning to meet a potential victim to contact police at the earliest opportunity so that police officers can deal with these meetings and capture the best possible evidence.”
The warning comes just days after violence broke out during an incident involving “paedophile hunters” at Bluewater.
Members of the group, known as The Hunted One, approached a suspected sex offender near a car park at the shopping centre on Sunday afternoon and streamed it live on Facebook, attracting 340,000 views.
The Hunted One was involved in two other incidents on Saturday: One at Bearsted railway station near Maidstone and another outside Chatham Football Club in Maidstone Road, Chatham, with both leading to arrests.
The Hunted One, which has almost 70,000 followers on Facebook, often posts a recorded video to accompany social media posts about its activities, but the incidents over the weekend were among the first to be broadcast live.
Police say awareness among children about the dangers of meeting strangers has grown considerably and incidents where children meet adults in these circumstances are “extremely rare”.
Anyone with information or concerns about online grooming should contact police on 101 or Kent Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111