Paedophile hunters (FOI)

Request

In relation to the States of Jersey Police use of online Paedophile Hunters I would like to know the following:

A

Before the use of such people are they themselves subjected to enhanced criminal record checks to ensure they are mentally stable and of good character?

B

Have any of the dating websites used in such stings subsequently been informed after convictions about their lack of age verification processes?

C

Do the States of Jersey Police have any plans to use more professional / mature and properly trained people in the future in order to deal with the growing problem of people trying to accost children on dating websites?

Response

A

The States of Jersey Police do not condone or work with so called Paedophile Hunters who act independently of any regulatory body. As such they are not subject to any form of vetting. This also applies to any other members of the public who wish to pass information to the police. The States of Jersey Police must assess any information received from any source and will act if any criminal offences are identified.

B

Age verification remains an international issue for Social Media companies. Recent media reports have highlighted this and it appears that companies are committed to address this issue.

C

The Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 was enacted to facilitate public access to certain information held by public authorities.

This is not a request for information held by the police but a request for opinion or future actions. As such, this information is not held.

The States of Jersey Police will continue to investigate grooming offences. It would be counterproductive to disclose law enforcement techniques around this work. The States of Jersey Police must work within the law when gathering evidence in respect of public protection and all other matters.

A previous Freedom of Information response also provides detail on this subject matter:

Civilian entrapment of paedophiles (FOI)