West Yorkshire police said confronting criminals should be left to them
Police have warned vigilantes to stop confronting paedophiles and leave the job to them.
Five people were arrested on suspicion of falsely imprisoning members of the public, as well as assault and other public order offences.
The arrests were made in relation to alleged offences in the Wakefield area on August 11, 2018 and Leeds on January 13, 2019 in which members of the public were allegedly detained.
Three men and two women have been released on bail pending further investigation.
A statement for West Yorkshire police read: “Protecting children from abuse is a top priority for West Yorkshire Police and we would encourage members of the public to report any concerns about illegal internet activity of potential child abusers to us so that we can deal with it.
“We are also concerned about the activities of online child abuse activist groups and their exposure activity in confronting persons they have identified.
“We urge members of such ‘exposure’ groups not to carry out this activity and instead to report suspected offences in West Yorkshire to the force via 101 or the independent Crimestoppers charity on 0800 555 111.”
In spite of this and other warnings, it is reported that groups of paedophile hunters were banding together to create a national federation that would allow them to collaborate more effectively with law enforcement.
Assistant chief constable Dan Vajzovic, who is involved in setting national police policy around paedophile hunting groups, told Sky News: “There are occasions when activist groups have carried out investigations and handed over evidence to the police and that has resulted in dangerous paedophiles being locked up.
“However, our overall impression is that activist groups are not helpful to the policing operation for a range of reasons.
“Some of the activities we’ve seen them carry out have resulted in people with mental health issues and others with learning difficulties being targeted. People are sometimes not actually paedophiles.”
