Civilian entrapment of paedophiles (FOI)

Request

I would like to know how many times over the past three years the States of Jersey Police have used evidence for a prosecution gathered by online civilian paedophile hunters posing as children?

What guidelines, if any, the States of Jersey Police give to online civilian paedophile hunters in order for them to stay within the Law and not jeopardize a potential prosecution whilst gathering evidence?

Whether any rewards have been given to online civilian paedophile hunters for successful prosecutions?

Response

In the past three years, there have been six occasions where the States of Jersey Police have used evidence to prosecute an individual for grooming offences where the evidence was initially obtained by a civilian to entrap an individual.

There are no guidelines given by the States of Jersey Police. The practice is discouraged as there is limited protection available to the individual, the victims or the accused.

The States of Jersey Police have never given any monetary reward for these actions.

The following was released to the media in December 2017:

We (The States of Jersey Police) do understand the public’s desire to keep children safe and protect them from harm and we also understand the temptation to take matters into their own hands, but vigilante activity in this area carries high risk. Investigations can be undermined, forensic and other opportunities can be lost, with often the quality of information passed onto police being low. Techniques used by vigilantes may not always be acceptable police investigative tactics and in some cases may involve criminality. There is also an absence of any governance or control for their actions nor any way of safeguarding child victims. There is no way of controlling the risk that vigilante activity might disrupt covert law enforcement activity, given that both will seek to target the same types of offender. Proper standards of victim care, or indeed managing the welfare of people exposing themselves to child abuse material, will largely be absent and cannot be assured in any case. The risk to individuals who are “exposed” in this way, whether accurately or not, from themselves or others is generally not anticipated, assessed or cared about. There is also a risk to vigilantes themselves, often with little consideration given to the exposure of this type of activity may bring.

It is for these reasons we don’t condone this activity or work with vigilante groups, but if evidence is handed to us, we will act on that.

Members of the Community who have any concerns about child protection can access a range of services including; the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) 519000, NSPCC 760800 or States of Jersey Police on 612612. Any suspected criminality can also be reported to crime stoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.