Paedophile hunters AGAINST police volunteer plans
Newcastle paedophile hunting group, Dark Justice, have slammed new plans to give police powers to the public.
Last week the Home Secretary announced a package of reforms to transform the powers and roles of police staff and volunteers.
It includes civilians being designated with powers in the same way as staff and help with digital investigations into cybercrime and finance fraud.
Dark Justice, who are set to reveal their identity later this year, say there signing up as volunteers won’t be in their future.
In October 2014, they began to pose as children on online chat sites and apps to catch out predators, resulting in over 40 suspected paedophiles appearing in court and 14 convictions.
They claim the police could secure more convictions if the government invests more into the cybercrime unit, rather than using resources to train up the police.
You can hear a special report by Charlotte Murphy here.
Upon announcement of the package of reforms, Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, Vera Baird, said:
"Cybercrime needs proper funding, the last set of data, published in September 2015, suggested more than seven million frauds and cybercrimes had been committed in England and Wales in the 12 months to the end of June. Computer hacking, on line fraud need police officers to have enhanced skills to ensure the seven million incidents are fully investigated. By all means, use the support of IT specialists – but this is a policing issue, and local residents need to know that the government is providing the funding to ensure this ever increasing crime is being investigated properly.
"If criminals are switching from stealing cars to swindling people on line – this is the job of a police officer to investigate not a volunteer. By all means call upon their IT expertise, but the public must know where the boundaries are.
"Here in Northumbria, we value the work of volunteers who do a sterling job – however, they don’t want to be full time police officers. They want to give something back to the community and I will always welcome that support from residents and local businesses. However, the Home Secretary has a duty to ensure her police reforms don’t replace officers with volunteers. There is only so much a volunteer can give, without feeling taken advantage of – the Home Secretary appears to have taken advantage of the good will given to forces across England and Wales by asking for more."