Thanks to Kickstarter, Chris Hansen's Online Predator Stings Are Back

JaredJones

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Thanks to Kickstarter, Chris Hansen's Online Predator Stings Are Back



Chris Hansen is here to do two things: Chew bubblegum and kick pedophile ass. And he's all outta bubblegum.

Everyone just have a seat, right over there, because the host of NBC's infamous reality series, To Catch a Predator, is back at it again.

Seemingly not content with the hundreds of online creeps he trapped during Predator's three year run between 2004 and 2007, Hansen launched a Kickstarter campaign [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1606694156/hansen-vs-predator] in April, with the aim of "undertaking a new investigation into online predators." Hansen vs. Predator, as it's now being called, raised $10,000 on its first day, met it's $75,000 goal in 22 days, and raised a total of $89,068 from over 1,200 backers by the time all was said and done. America truly loves us some online justice, it would seem.

As promised, Hansen vs. Predator began filming in Fairfield, Connecticut at the beginning of the month, but perhaps more interesting is the way in which Hansen went about involving local authorities in his independently backed sex sting operations. Basically, through sheer force of will.

According to a report published by the New Republic [http://www.newrepublic.com/article/123138/chris-hansen-back-catching-predators], Hansen first called up the Fairfield police department in mid-August, informing them that he would be setting up a sex sting not unlike the ones he became famous for on NBC, with the lone exception being that neither NBC nor any major network would be involved this time around. It was not a request, but more a warning, and the Fairfield police department was pretty much powerless to prevent Hansen from moving forward with his operation. Ultimately, Fairfield's deputy police chief, Christopher Lyddy, decided that his department's involvement would ensure that these stings went off as smoothly as planned and agreed to lend assistance.

"We thought long and hard about this," said Lyddy, "but at the end of the day we completely understood that this was going to happen no matter what, and that we really had a responsibility to become involved and to ensure this neighborhood was safe."

Starting on October 1st, Hansen's crew and Fairfield police camped out for four days at a decoy house in Fairfield, busting ten men in total whose bonds were set as high as $1.1 million.

Hansen said one man showed up with a gun in his car; another, when confronted by Hansen and his cameras said he knew him from commuting on the Metro North train together and pleaded, "No, Chris, please don't do this to me"; another admitted to police to having previously sodomized a 15-year-old. "In almost every case they were extremely specific about what they wanted to do, which sexual acts, how they would start," Hansen told me. "You could see the grooming process in action: 'we'll do this in the kitchen together, we'll take a bath together, we'll go to bed.'"

Given the salacious and exploitative nature of Hansen's stings, there have obviously been a few naysayers who argue that shows like To Catch a Predator are doing more harm than good. Among the accusations leveled at Hansen is the belief that, "by subjecting the merely accused to the potential of mass humiliation, the show neglects the common notion of innocent until proven guilty." Many of these concerns seem rooted in the particularly grisly case of Louis Conradt Jr., an assistant district attorney in Murphy, Texas who shot himself during a confrontation with SWAT while Hansen's crew waited outside his home. Conradt's family later received an undisclosed sum from NBC to settle a wrongful death suit against the network.

But according to Hansen, the risk is worth the reward -- the reward being that potentially dangerous predators are being taken off the streets. "As Fairfield demonstrated, this is still very much a huge issue," said Hansen. "We just made that the safest neighborhood in America."

In any case, I don't see how there's any way that Hansen vs. Predator can do any more damage to the American psyche than its predecessor, Alien vs. Predator: Requiem, already has.

Source: New Republic [http://www.newrepublic.com/article/123138/chris-hansen-back-catching-predators]



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RJ 17

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The only thing funnier than this show was the episode of South Park that referenced it.
 

Frezzato

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That image makes Chris Hansen look like Jeremy Clarkson. Love the show though. Had I known about the Kickstarter I likely would have contributed. Also:

In any case, I don't see how there's any way that Hansen vs. Predator can do any more damage to the American psyche than its predecessor, Alien vs. Predator: Requiem, already has
Man, you wanna talk about 'grisly', there's plenty of that in AvP: Requiem. Just in time for Halloween.
 
Sep 24, 2008
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Did... Did Chris Hansen just Batman a Connecticut Police Office into submission?

"I'm going to to clean up these mean streets of Gotha Fairfield!"

"Very Good, sir. Will the vigilante be needing a Spotlight with his Symbol in efforts to call him?"
 

Covarr

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JaredJones said:
In any case, I don't see how there's any way that Hansen vs. Predator can do any more damage to the American psyche than its predecessor, Alien vs. Predator: Requiem, already has.
This joke hurts me. Deep down in the depths of my soul, I feel an immense pain. Because I didn't think of it first.

P.S. Thanks
 

loa

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Ah, turning sting operation into a tv show for entertainment.
Ruining lives on camera.
Kinda gross.

I don't care if they "deserved it", running man should remain fiction.
Have you learned nothing from monetizing imprisonment via privatized prisons?
Why, then, do you think mixing show biz and legal persecution is a good idea? It's not. It's gross.
 

Deathfish15

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I don't get why they settled with that Murphy TX guy's family. He was an indecent pervert who basically took his own life after being caught in the act. That is is OWN FAULT. There is no wrongful death about it.
 

Erttheking

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loa said:
Ah, turning sting operation into a tv show for entertainment.
Ruining lives on camera.
Kinda gross.

I don't care if they "deserved it", running man should remain fiction.
Have you learned nothing from monetizing imprisonment via privatized prisons?
Why, then, do you think mixing show biz and legal persecution is a good idea? It's not. It's gross.
I have to agree, this is the kind of thing that should be handled by the police, not vigilantes.
 

Rednog

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erttheking said:
loa said:
Ah, turning sting operation into a tv show for entertainment.
Ruining lives on camera.
Kinda gross.

I don't care if they "deserved it", running man should remain fiction.
Have you learned nothing from monetizing imprisonment via privatized prisons?
Why, then, do you think mixing show biz and legal persecution is a good idea? It's not. It's gross.
I have to agree, this is the kind of thing that should be handled by the police, not vigilantes.
Guy with a bunch of money gets to do whatever he wants in the name of justice he's pretty much batman; except for doing it for ratings, fame, and the whole getting people killed bit.
 

Fox12

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loa said:
Ah, turning sting operation into a tv show for entertainment.
Ruining lives on camera.
Kinda gross.
let's not forget the time his target killed himself. Look up the footage if you want.

This ridiculous, he shouldn't be able to strong arm the police. What if the police didn't come? How would you feel about dozens of pedophiles coming into your neighborhood? And some were armed, apparently, and now they're desperate? This is ridiculous. If they cared about justice, they could do an internet sting with the police on board. But you got to have it on camera, I guess.
 

Worgen

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Whatever, just wash your hands.
You talk about this but no mention of 'Thems Fightin Herds' being funded?

You know, something that actually is a game.

 

Nailzzz

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dirtysteve said:
Episode one: Sarah Nyberg
Was thinking the exact same thing. Between "her" and their supporters, I'm sure that Chris could get a full season out of that alone.
 

kuolonen

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Looking forward to the day I can watch live stream of murder convicts having a battle royale instead of justice trials. Though in all honesty, private vigilante justice is not that much worse from the public justice system that considers "affluenza" a viable defense. Keep it classy yankees!
 

Worgen

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Whatever, just wash your hands.
dirtysteve said:
Worgen said:
You talk about this but no mention of 'Thems Fightin Herds' being funded?

You know, something that actually is a game.

Kinda derailing there, also, brony game? Neigh.
They are both things being crowd funded but for some odd reason this site didn't mention the game at all.

Also, those aren't ponies.

This is ponies
Yes this is an official comic cover.

There is a difference, although the game did start off as a pony game before they got C&Ced.
 
Oct 15, 2015
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Oh look. Chris Hansen deciding to ruin more peoples lives with fabricated evidence. At least this time he wont have a literal psychotic person running the investigations. That person is busy ruining Twitter now.
 

Muspelheim

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I never thought I'd see the day when a kiddy-fiddler fishing show got crowd-funded.

I ought to find a production company and pitch my idea; sending batty mercenaries to hunt for poachers in African wildlife reserves. "The Most Dangerous Game."
 

K12

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I've seen a small section of the "catch a predator" show and it's so fucking tasteless I couldn't believe it.

I'm a big fan of edgy black comedy and lots of really fucked up shit but this really sickened me. The closest thing to a public stoning that America has. It very likely does more harm then help and is a show for people who think punishment is far more important than prevention.