Several men have been singled out by “pedophile hunters”.
But in some cases it has ruined the work of the police.
– The first thing the hanged individual does is delete all hard drives and traces that could get him caught, says Detective Inspector Jan Olsson.
Recently, several cases have been noticed where men have been singled out as pedophiles by the public.
As recently as this weekend, the police were alerted to two cases in Stockholm, where men were abused by so-called “pedophile hunters”.
In recent years, many men have also been singled out as pedophiles online.
Something that in some cases can make the work of the police officers who work to catch adults who commit various types of sexual crimes against children difficult.
– The police have groups that work against sexual crimes against children in all regions. Sometimes they work for months collecting evidence and spying on different individuals. If the individual at that stage gets hanged, the first thing he does is erase all hard drives and other traces that might get him busted. It makes our work impossible and in the worst case it leads to him going free, says Jan Olsson, crime inspector at Noa.
“Understand the frustration”
Another risk that exists when civilians “take the law into their own hands” is that an innocent person is singled out or attacked, Jan Olsson continues.
– If the people are not guilty of anything, the person hanging out risks being guilty of a crime instead. We cannot have a society where people act as judges on their own, he says.
At the same time, he says he fully understands the concern and anger that civilians can feel when it comes to sexual crimes against children.
– This type of crime against children is the worst thing you can do. I understand the frustration and that it drives you crazy. We in the police also have children and those who investigate this type of crime are incredibly committed to it. We fully understand that this arouses disgust. But what you should do if you discover something is to report it to us, or at least tip us off, so that children can be saved and the perpetrator can be caught, he says.
No reduction seen
Hanging out with people on the internet is something that has become more and more common over time. Physical attacks against men who are suspected of being pedophiles have also increased in several places in Sweden.
At the same time, there are no statistics that show that sexual crimes against children are decreasing – much shows the opposite, says Jan Olsson.
– All crimes that take place over the Internet, which this type of crime can often do, have increased incredibly in connection with the spread of the Internet. I am not so sure that it has in any way decreased after people have been hanged, for example, he says.
He also compares to the United States, where people convicted of sexual crimes against children are publicly hanged by authorities.
– Even though the authorities hang them out, it doesn’t seem like this type of crime decreases because of it, he says.
He also says that hanging people in some cases has had serious consequences – while he understands the anger people can feel.
– What responsibility do you take if you attack or hang a person who is not a perpetrator? Then you have destroyed a life and the lives of the individual’s family members. There are some who probably killed themselves because they were hanged. At the same time, I understand the victims as well, but taking the law into one’s own hands is not the solution to the problem.