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Police are being urged to get stricter on paedophile hunting groups, following their increase in popularity.

Officers are being told to investigate potential harassment, privacy and violent offences committed by the vigilante groups, as well as those they accuse of child grooming.

The Times reports that the internal guidance was issued to detectives last year, and warns officers that vigilante groups have "little or no consideration" for the safeguarding requirements of victims of the paedophiles they have outed.

On January 8, police arrested a 47-year-old man from Plymouth following a sting by a group of so-called paedophile hunters.

(Image: Devon Live)

Police said a man from Plymouth was arrested on suspicion of engaging in sexual communications with a child.

It came a day after the vigilante group confronted a man during a live broadcast on Facebook.

There is concern with the number of amateur groups targeting child abusers, with more than 75 in the UK, with names such as Dark Justice and The Hunted one and Plymouth Against Paedophiles.

In November last year, Devon and Cornwall Police raised concern with a paedophile hunter from Ivybridge and asked him to stop undertaking "entrapment activities".

For years, Scott Rivers was posing as a young girl on chat sites in a bid to expose paedophiles and claims to have unmasked at least 21 sexual predators.

On November 20, Mr Rivers visited Heavitree Police Station in Exeter dressed as Batman, to hand in evidence he had formed about a child predator, which prompted officers to hand Mr Rivers and official 'cease and desist letter'.

A Cease and Desist Order is an official order handed down by a government agency or court directing a person or entity to stop doing something immediately.

The force said it was aware of Mr Rivers and his efforts to proactively try to entrap people by posing as a girl under the age of 16.

A spokesman said: "While his aims seem laudable, we are asking him to stop undertaking these entrapment activities for a number of reasons.

"Firstly, this type of vigilante work could disrupt on-going police or other law enforcement operations on known websites, groups or individuals. ‘It also places the man in question at risk of allegations of criminality in his own activities, for example incitement.

"He is also potentially wasting police time as the Crown Prosecution Service current stance is to question any attempt to prosecute where evidence is gathered by private entrapment or an unregulated ‘agent provocateur’, and not through regulated police operations.

"Finally and most importantly, it could divert genuine victims away from reporting offenders to the police or other authorities.

"If you have any concerns about the online habits of any adult, or fear that your child could be at risk, then please contact the police."

(Image: Rob Stebbing)

The internal guidance advice suggests that the vigilante groups have been known to destroy evidence relating to their confrontations and the evidence they do provide is "frequently low".

The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) says: “The techniques used by vigilantes will often be very different to those employed by the police and may involve the commission of offences by the vigilantes.

"In such circumstances, it is important that the police bring any potential offences committed by the vigilante to the attention of the charging lawyer.”

Hundreds, if not thousands of people are posing as children online to catch potential sexual predators and while their actions have lead to scores of prosecutions, it has raised concerns about vigilantism and the safety of both suspects and accusers.

Unlike police officers, vigilante groups do not have the same strict guidelines to abide by or have their work scrutinised.

Officers are told that they must not work with the groups or endorse their activities in any way and they should make clear that confrontation and exposing abusers online "could put people at risk" and warns the wrong people could be exposed.