The ‘creep hunters’ movement has come to Prince George.
A rapidly growing local Facebook group has already produced two videos publicly shaming people they allege were meeting for sex with group members posing as minors.
The groups have been springing up across the world recently and have been strongly criticized by some for being a form of vigilante justice, a label the PG group avoids.
Local hunter Kendra Greengrass says they look at themselves as “volunteers”
She is a mother of three, who has had her “eyes opened up to a lot of different worries out there.”
A similar group in Surrey recently issued an apology for initially naming the wrong RCMP officer in a sting that eventually resulted in charges against another Mountie.
Greengrass is confident that mistake will not be repeated in Prince George, noting that the ‘creep hunters’ group view themselves as a separate entity than the ‘creep catchers’.
“We make sure we have 100% proof who the person is, we have 100% proof of their intent.” stating that they often ask for custom ‘selfies’ with identifying traits before moving forward.
Another group member, Marite Benoit added that they are not actively seeking suspects
“They are the ones that start the conversation, they are the ones that ask for the pictures, they are the ones that start the sexual content of the conversation.”
While the case in Surrey and another involving a Kamloops sheriff resulted in charges, the Prince George group is not currently not sharing any of their evidence with the RCMP. It is also not shared online.
“There is a lot of people that are kind of against the fact that all we do is shame them.” Greengrass said “In that you don’t exactly get anything done out of it, but I mean, if you look at some of the situations some people have been charged.”
“Maybe it’s not everybody, and it’s not going to be everybody, but there’s enough people who care that they get named and just put out there.”
RCMP “doesn’t condone or support”
Prince George RCMP Media Liaison Corporal Craig Douglass says the group has the potential to hinder some of the police’s own investigations, adding “that we fear for them, we fear for people involved in these groups, getting put into a situation or putting others to a situation where somebody gets hurt.”
Douglass says he has seen the two videos posted by the PG group and said they are “close to crossing the line criminally”
“We don’t condone or support their activities… if they are aware of these things happening, they should be reporting them to police – and we cannot in any way cooperate with any group that publicly shames people.”
Despite that, Marite Benoit says moving forward they may start sharing their evidence with the RCMP.
“We have no problems working with the police, but we are also not going to stop what we are doing either, because it is helping and making a difference.”
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