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Four young Chilliwack men who dressed as superheroes to confront potential sex offenders have drawn public kudos but are being criticized by police, who say crime-fighting should be left to the proper authorities.
Police say the vigilantes — two are 17, one is 18 and one is 20 — put themselves in danger by posing online as underage girls to lure men for sexual encounters, only to confront the men publicly dressed as Batman and the Flash. The encounters were videotaped and posted in recent weeks on YouTube, under the title To Troll a Predator.
Police have spoken to the young men and their parents, said Cpl. Tammy Hollingsworth, spokeswoman for the Upper Fraser Valley RCMP, Wednesday.
"Our main concern is their personal safety," she said. "Those kids told investigators they made a big mistake."
The boys could find themselves in trouble if they embarrassed a dangerous person, she said, adding that online luring of potential predators could also bring sex offenders into the community from other areas.
It's too early in the investigation to say if charges will be laid against the young vigilantes or their filmed targets, who aren't necessarily those lured online by the boys, the officer said. "At this point we're still trying to sort out everything."
E Division's Integrated Child Exploitation unit has been consulted and is now engaged as part of the investigative team, Hollingsworth said.
The complaint originally arose from a Chilliwack high-school administrator who believed young girls were trying to attract adult males online to have sex with them.
By Wednesday afternoon more than 2,000 people had "liked" the teens' Facebook page, titled To Troll a Predator. Visitors left countless messages — mostly encouraging — while media from across the country posted notes clamouring for a chance to speak with the sex-crime fighters.
Cpl. Mat Van Laer of B.C. RCMP's integrated child-exploitation unit said he's not surprised that people support the teens. But, he cautioned, "as appealing as the idea might be ... it does come with very serious inherent risks."
Van Laer said police are doing their best to combat sexual offenders. "There are police ... present online, doing this kind of work," he said, declining to describe specific techniques used by officers.
Vigilantes could also disrupt ongoing investigations, he added.
Hollingsworth said she's never seen anything like this in Chilliwack before. "I didn't believe it when I first saw it."
One video features what the boys describe as a 44-year-old male who was seeking to perform oral sex on a 15-year-old girl. The video shows screen grabs of the online chat, dated Nov. 5, and the agreement to meet at a Tim Hortons.
The video then cuts to footage of a man dressed as Batman, speaking in a Cookie Monster-esque voice, claiming to be with the "Chilliwack police department."
To Troll A Predator Part One:
"We have caught you talking to a 15-year-old girl online," the caped crusader says to the nervous-sounding man.
Another video shows a screen grab of a man asking what he believes to be an underage girl (actually the teen boys): "But you're '18' right?"
The boys reply: "I guess we could just say I'm '18.'"
The video then cuts to the man standing by a playground as "Batman" walks briskly toward him.
To Troll A Predator Part Two:
"You're here for the underaged girl," Batman growled.
"No," the man replied.
"I know who you are."
"Shut up."
Superheroes in the Fraser Valley might be rare, but they're not unheard of. For the last three years in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, "Thanatos" has patrolled the streets wearing a green-and-black death mask and looking for opportunities to help and protect the vulnerable.
In the U.S., an organization known as Real Life Superheroes has existed since the '70s, inspired by a comic-book approach to tackling crime. According to their website, the masked crime fighters are a "culture that works in a fun, exciting, and inspirational fashion to make the world a better place." They hope to "inspire others, spread a positive message, and call attention to issues in our communities."
In Seattle in October, a well-known superhero by the name of Benjamin Fodor, a.k.a. "Phoenix Jones," was arrested for pepper-spraying a group of club-goers. Fodor, who is part of Seattle's burgeoning Rain City Superheroes group, said he was trying to break up a fight. .
Meanwhile, the masked teens from Chilliwack announced on their Facebook page that they have retired from super-heroism.