There are countless videos on social media of civilians confronting alleged child predators, but according to police, these videos could do more harm than good.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — You may have seen videos circulating online of civilians confronting alleged child predators.
More and more of those videos have been popping up in Arkansas. However, behind the scenes, law enforcement is raising concerns.
We went straight to the investigators to ask if these groups are helpful. However, their answer wasn’t exactly what you might expect.
“The general consensus among law enforcement is no, they do more harm than good,” said Detective Aaron Singleton with the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office.
In an effort to act as watchdogs, luring, confronting, and exposing suspected predators online, investigators said what may look like justice on social media can actually interfere with real police work.
“These groups go and take it upon themselves to confront this predator. Now the opportunity to charge this guy with something may be gone forever,” Singleton said.
He also explained that while they appreciate that these groups may have good intentions, there are specific criteria that law enforcement must meet to file charges and ultimately secure a conviction.
“Because do I have probable cause to even make that arrest? Which is hard for me to do with someone else’s evidence if I didn’t do some of my own digging into what I’ve been presented with. That’s difficult, and then in the case of like a chat sting, there’s so much criteria we have to follow and show okay, we mentioned age here, mentioned age here, they acknowledged we’re 12 [years old] here,” he described.
While these groups focus on exposing potential predators, they may not always realize what could already be happening behind the scenes.
“We have partners with the FBI, Homeland Security, and when they investigate someone, it’s a long-term process. What if that’s the guy you reeled in as your target, and now, he knows the jigs up and you just killed an FBI investigation that took months to build and you just killed it for clicks,” Singleton added.
We reached out to some of those social media groups, but they stopped responding.
Detective Singleton said these vigilantes, as he calls them, can put people in danger, including the groups themselves.
“You don’t know what kind of mindset they have, and they might get violent with you. We don’t want anyone getting hurt. A lot of times we’re watching these groups, and they’re the ones confronting a predator and touching them in a way they shouldn’t and maybe making threats, so now they’re opening themselves up to charges,” he said.
In response, the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office said the following:
“Law enforcement agencies across the state, including our office, work tirelessly to catch predators and hold them accountable under the law. Individuals who insert themselves in the process of justice may think they are helping us, but they are actually creating dangerous situations and potentially jeopardizing criminal prosecutions. If someone has credible evidence that they believe would aid in the investigation of a predator, they should share it with the appropriate authorities.”
Both the AG’s office and Detective Singleton said that if you have any information, you should contact law enforcement instead.
