The group of about seven children staged a makeshift sting operation in the north Calgary suburb of Airdrie, the RCMP say.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
Police in Alberta are discouraging attempts at vigilante justice after a 12-year-old boy narrowly escaped the car of a man who allegedly abducted him this week in the course of a “catch-a-predator” plan that the youngster had hatched with a group of fellow tweens using social media.
The group of about seven or so children, each under or around the age of 13, staged their makeshift sting operation in the north Calgary suburb of Airdrie, the RCMP said. Although it did not entirely go as planned, their endeavour ended with the arrest of a man who has a criminal record for previous offences involving minors.
Zain Merchant, 37, of Calgary, has been charged with abduction of a person under 14, sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching, kidnapping, forcible confinement, flight from a peace officer and three counts of breaching a prohibition order.
Mr. Merchant remains in police custody. A public lawyer briefly appeared before a judge on his behalf Thursday. None of the allegations against him have been tested in court and his bail hearing has been postponed to next week.
The RCMP say the children’s dangerous venture for vigilante justice in this case is part of a broader trend that has been growing in Canada because of social-media apps such as TikTok and Snapchat.
Across the internet, numerous do-it-yourself guidelines about luring and catching predators have recently proliferated. Many of them include videos, such as clips from To Catch a Predator, a popular reality TV series under the banner of NBC’s Dateline. And over the years, groups such as Surrey Creep Catchers in British Columbia have conducted various vigilante operations to expose alleged pedophiles.
According to the RCMP, local officers were first alerted about a child abduction in Airdrie at around 7:50 p.m. Monday. A boy aged 12, whose name cannot be identified because of a routine publication ban, had voluntarily entered the suspect’s vehicle, while another youth, whom police did not identify, recorded the interaction on video.
As the boy got in the car, the suspect drove away, police said. When they were at a red light, the boy escaped and called 911.
Shortly after, the RCMP located the vehicle and tried to conduct a traffic stop. The suspect, however, fled from police, driving southbound on a major highway toward downtown Calgary.
Airdrie RCMP then co-ordinated with Calgary Police Service to find the suspect at a residence in the northeast area of the city, where he was eventually arrested.
After conducting an investigation into the matter, RCMP Corporal Gina Slaney told reporters Wednesday that the boy had used Snapchat to arrange the meeting with the accused.
Unbeknownst to any of their parents, the boy and the other children in his group wanted to expose the man, Cpl. Slaney said. “Unfortunately, it didn’t go as planned,” she added, referring to the suspect allegedly fleeing with the boy while being filmed.
The children “had been involved in a catch-the-predator scheme,” she said. “These things are happening all the time on TikTok and Snapchat. And all those things we know are out there for our kids to have access to.”
Airdrie RCMP’s Corporal Christopher Hrynyk said Mr. Merchant has “a history” with police, which includes breach charges related to previous investigations that “did encapsulate minors being involved.”
He said the children in the group are all okay, but he remains concerned: “It’s a fine balance between getting the information about what happened and discouraging future action.”
Staff Sergeant Mark Auger, who works with the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team’s internet child exploitation unit, added that vigilante operations such as this could give rise to “tainted evidence,” which would make a prosecution’s case difficult in court.
“A lot of these setups and these stings will end in violence,” he said. “We don’t know how the script went, how the conversation went. Was it entrapment?”
But Tonya Kent, a Toronto-based criminal defence lawyer, said the children’s actions would not qualify as entrapment in court.
“They are considered civilians, and a civilian cannot entrap someone. Only a police officer or someone acting with that authority could possibly entrap someone into doing something illegal,” she said in an interview.
“We don’t know whether there was a level of harassment or pressure from the kids on the accused in this case. But even then, if the accused carried along with it and was caught, then entrapment becomes redundant for a defence.”
Kara Brisson-Boivin, director of research at MediaSmarts, an Ottawa-based digital literacy non-profit, emphasized that this situation is far from the norm.
“I don’t believe there is a direct causal reaction in this case. These kids with vigilante behaviour are not necessarily doing this because children these days have social-media apps on their phones,” she said. “It’s important to be realistic about how this is not happening all the time everywhere. We are talking about a very specific, exceptional group of kids.”
Tatyana Terzopoulos, an assistant professor at Toronto Metropolitan University focusing on children and youth media, agreed. But she said children have always engaged in “acts of resistance” through every period in history.
“Tweenhood or pre-adolescence, as the precursor to entering high school and the adolescent period, has long been a challenging life stage,” she said. “What has shifted with the advent of the internet is the awareness of how many others may share their beliefs beyond their immediate communities.”
Danielle Law, a professor of youth and children studies at Wilfrid Laurier University, applauded the children for what she described as a “higher-risk decision” that aligns with the developmental stage of their prefrontal cortex – the part of the brain that helps with planning, judgment and weighing risks.
“While the youth’s decision to catch the predator is not advised and was unsafe, their intention to help others is commendable,” she said.