In the video, which has been viewed tens of thousands of times, Creep Catchers Surrey chapter president Ryan Laforge walked up to the man and said, “How are you?”
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“We have an active investigation and are aware of the allegations that the matter involves a police officer”, another Surrey RCMP tweet read.
The mountie was released on bail Saturday, and remains suspended from duty.
“If these allegations are substantiated, we will be taking immediate steps to separate ourselves from this individual”, she said. These allegations are egregious and not in keeping with what we expect from our employees. There is no room in the RCMP for this kind of behaviour or individual.
The Creep Catchers are a vigilante group who lure people online for sexual purposes, posing as minors.
Assistant Commissioner Brenda Butterworth-Carr, who is acting commanding officer of the B.C. RCMP, is to attend the news conference along with Insp. He also saw officers at the home on Thursday, the day after the Creep Catchers sting. Evidence obtained by these groups and then turned over to police has to be further analyzed and this lengthens the investigation.
They were unable to locate the man. Police arrived on scene.
The Kamloops Creep Catchers started in June and has been operational in the last few weeks, meeting with a couple people, including Andrews.
Many experts condemn the mob mentality behind such groups, raising concerns over the lack of oversight, the risks involved and the possibility of allowing a possible offender to escape justice.
Doroshenko says the officer’s character was “clearly” defamed by people who published inaccurate material.
On Creep Catchers’ role, he said, “I want to make it clear that police are the ones that were called that night after the public shaming”. The group’s method is to set up a fake profile on an online dating site and wait for a message.
“Make sure you guys are all ready, make sure you guys are all watching, make sure you guys are all sharing”.
Criminologist Neil Boyd from Simon Fraser University also denounced the practice.
Toronto-based criminal lawyer Michael Lacy said the screw-up is just one reason why so-called vigilantes shouldn’t take on the work of police.
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“On one hand, yes we all share their concern about child sex offenders”.
