A group of people in Halifax are posing as 13-year-olds online and then recording public encounters with adults who allegedly ask to meet up with them.
“The public has a right to know,” the president of Halifax Creep Catchers said.
She and a “catcher” with the group wouldn’t reveal their identities “for our own safety reasons and the safety of our friends and family.”
The Halifax group, one of several Creep Catchers in Canada, officially formed last week. It has posted five encounters on YouTube. The men’s faces are visible and their first names are included.
During the encounters, all recorded this month, the men are accused of luring the fake person to the scene.
In three videos, the men are loudly berated and followed for short distances in public areas. In other videos, men are ambushed in parked cars before the person recording adjusts the camera to get a clear shot of their licence plates.
The end of the videos all include screenshots of the alleged (prior) online conversations as rap music plays.
“You wanted to have sex with a 13-year-old kid! You creep! You’re done!” shouted one group member during an ambush.
The president of the group said the goal is to raise awareness that there are predators in the area. However, police said it could be dangerous.
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“We appreciate these people have the best intentions,” Const. Dianne Woodworth, a public information officer for the Halifax Regional Police, said.
The force is aware of the videos and the potential risks.
“If you corner people, they could react violently and you could put yourself in a very bad situation, as well as other people,” said Woodworth, adding these kind of online stings should be left to police.
“Perhaps we already have people under surveillance and you could be compromising an investigation.”
The president of the group said it chooses public places to meet the adults because there are witnesses around.
“We also have protocols to follow and policies to follow,” she added.
David Fraser, a privacy lawyer at McInnes Cooper, said allegations made in the videos could raise defamation concerns, and that the court system has checks and balances to usually punish the right people.
“Even if they had the best evidence to put forward to hand over to the police, it may well be that it’s not usable because they have, in fact, entrapped the individual,” he said.
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Fraser also noted that shame videos have led people to commit suicide in the past.
“That is something that those individuals would have to live with on their hands, and there could be actual legal consequences associated with that,” he said.
“…That’s punishment enough,” the president added.
The group emphasized that the alleged suspects are the ones who do the luring and understand they’re meeting minors.
The group hopes that the public knowing it exists will make people with similar plans to meet up with minors to think twice.