Police chief says safety is concern for ‘creep catcher’ activity in city
After videos surfaced online of recent child sexual exploitation hunter or ‘creep catcher’ activity in Prince Albert, the head of the city’s police service is urging caution to those involved.
The online group ‘Canadian Predator Hunters’ has been active in the Prince Albert region recently. The group uses messaging applications to pose as underage children. They lure and confront people they suspect of being pedophile predators and then stream the stings online. During the confrontations, the group explains how they are there to offer help and provide contact information for counselling, mental health or addiction services to those caught. One video of an encounter in the city received nearly 1,000 shares and over 42,000 views.
Police Chief Troy Cooper marked safety as his primary concern around the creep catcher activity in the city.
“They are not sure who they are actually going to meet until they get there,” he said. “When police do that sort of work, of course, we have appropriate training and we do it in a controlled way so we make sure no one gets hurt.”