BLOOMFIELD TWP. (WWJ) -- Impassioned dads and others are taking matters into their own hands, working to expose sexual deviants preying on minors in Metro Detroit.
But police won't be thanking them for their efforts.
Back in October of last year, the Bloomfield Township Police Department got a call that there were people at a local store filming somebody. They later found out that it was a vigilante group that chased down a suspected child sexual predator.
Upon arrival at the scene, they were greeted by two men, 28-year-old Joshua Mundy and his friend, 27-year-old Jay Carnicorn. These two men form D.A.P, or Dads Against Predators, an Ohio-based group working to identify adults who are grooming, meeting up with and assaulting underage kids – ultimately unmasking the predators on YouTube.
In this incident, a man was chatting with someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl, and planned to meet up with her at the Target on Telegraph Road. The predator, who told the decoy to wear a pink bikini under her clothes, hoped to take the teen out to dinner.
But that didn’t happen.
Instead of a young girl, the man was greeted by Mundy, Carnicorn and a rolling camera.
Bloomfield Township Police ended up arresting the man because there was enough evidence in D.A.P’s chat logs to provide probable cause that he was there to meet with a minor. He was released from jail later that night.
Local detectives investigated the case and are now waiting for the final decision from the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office on whether they will issue a warrant in the case.
While this might seem to be a success story, police don’t see it that way.
WWJ spoke with Bloomfield Township Lieutenant Paul Schwab and Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, who are on the same page when it comes to these vigilante stings.
Both say it's the wrong way to go about it.
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“I know they probably feel like they're helping us out, but we don't subscribe to being a vigilante,” said Schwab, who is head of the detective bureau in Bloomfield. “If their goal is to get these people arrested and taken off the streets, then they can do that without posting it on YouTube."
These groups are doing this "for their own egos," Schwab said.
“I don't like it, I'm not comfortable with them doing this,” he added. “I am not a big fan of groups like this that take the law into their own hands."
However, Schwab said he is not above working with groups like D.A.P when the situation calls for it. Schwab said he will take tips from vigilantes and will investigate their evidence, but he doesn’t want to deal with them on a regular basis, and won't solicit their help.
Sheriff Bouchard said he would urge caution when it comes to someone in the private sector trying to track down child predators, as it could be dangerous.
“They have no idea the volatility of that person or their criminal history,” said Bouchard.
Schwab agreed that when these groups meet up with suspected predators, stick a camera in their face and expose them on the internet they are putting themselves in harm’s way,
“Nowadays you don't know who you're dealing with -- they could be armed and next thing you know you have an assault and battery,” Schwab said. “It's really opening Pandora's box when they do things like this.”
Along with the possibility of danger, the groups could also face civil litigation if they expose the wrong person. Schwab said if they don’t get it right, they could potentially ruin someone’s life.
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“You don't hear about all the times they get it wrong, you're only hearing the times they get it right -- or they think they get it right,” said the detective. “I applaud their passion for it -- I know why they're doing it -- I just don't think that they're the right people to be doing it."
That’s where task forces that focus specifically on tracking down child sexual predators on the internet come into play; to make sure everything’s correct.
While the Bloomfield Twp. PD, does not have a section dedicated to this issue, Oakland County does with its Computer Crimes Unit, comprised of trained investigators.
When private individuals think they may have found a potential predator, Bouchard said that's when they should loop in a police agency for assistance.
"The Computer Crimes Unit has more resources and knowledge at their fingertips than the average person," said Bouchard.
The sheriff said that the trained detectives in the unit know what needs to be said and done to bring a case to trial and to reach conviction, while also making sure the catch and the process leading up to it is as safe as possible.
Bouchard said that as a state senator he helped draft Michigan's initial Sex Offender Registry Act, established in 1994. The sheriff stressed that sexual offenders need to be held accountable without question, but he asks "What is the most efficient and safe way to make that happen?"
In short, Bouchard said, he would encourage the public to leave this work to the professionals.
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