Dateline's The Predator with Chris Hansen

[njtrigger]

I always enjoy watching this show. The ending is the best when the male walks out the door and the police gang tackle the suspect.

It seems a little humorous, but I was wondering something. Do the police do this for every suspect they encounter? If so, this seems way overboard. If someone is walking out of a house calmly, why do police need to gang tackle the guy? Why cant they simply walk up, talk with the man calmly, and then place him under arrest?

Is this behavior by police really needed to subdue someone? I bet that most of these guys would go calmly and dont need to be abused in this manner.

[trooper3385]

I love watching the show too and I don't have to much sympathy when I see the child molesters getting tackled. But I also think they are going way overboard sometimes. I think a lot of it is show for the TV. I guess they have been watching to much Cops as well. When your making a Felony arrest like this, the majority of the time you draw down on the suspect and have them get on the ground like some of these Dept. are doing on Dateline. But for someone that is complying and not trying to resist or run away, there is no reason to use physical force to take the suspect in custody. The officer is just asking to get stabbed or shot. It's nearly impossible to maintain a visual on the suspect hands when your taking them to the ground. If we were doing that in my Dept. we would definetly be in the office doing some explaining. There are times when using physical force cannot be avoided to make an arrest. But the reason we wear these belts with pepper spray, batons, tasers, etc. is to be able to make an arrest before you have to get into a physical confrontation with a suspect, if possible.

[Sycofrogg]

They should be whipping them with rubber hoses before locking them up.

[4V50 Gary]

Molesters are isolated from the general population. Inmates have kids as relatives (little brothers or sisters, sons or daughters, nephews or nieces) and they'd kill the molester at first opportunity.

[garryc]

Molesters are isolated from the general population. Inmates have kids as relatives (little brothers or sisters, sons or daughters, nephews or nieces) and they'd kill the molester at first opportunity.

Not in my prison, they are a large percentage. Those days of killing a molester are long gone.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Aren't the TV crew worried that one day, one of the .... are going to pull out a gun or knife and do them in? A big security guard isn't going to stop the initial wave of fire?

[Thunderhawk88]

Molesters are isolated from the general population.

Not always!!! ;)

[Danase]

If I was going to arrest someone there is no way I would want to calmly ask them to put their hands behind their head. Why not throw them the cuffs and ask them to cuff themselves as well, maybe take them out for a drink on the way to the jail. The element of surprise is the best way. Plus, they are not even hurting the criminals.

[CWL]

Last week's episode had a 15-yr cop being busted. He didn't like the looks when he cased the house and tried to drive away, but local police pulled him over.

He was armed with handgun (possibly more than one), a duty shotgun, AR15 carbine and over 800 rounds of ammo in the car.

This may have gotten serious if he decided to enter the house.

[andrewd523]

I watch this show a lot too, and find it quite fascinating. When I do see the police jump on the suspect, and hold them to the ground while cuffing them, I feel a sense of sympathy like some of you did too. Then I remind myself that these guys are "predators", and they are after little kids. That is disgusting, and they deserve everything the police give them. Just my opinion, but if you have kids, just think of some 50 yr old man coming after your little daughter. It's quite disgusting if you ask me. Everyone has their rights, don't get me wrong, but sex offenders do some of the most perverse and indescribable crimes ever heard of. I hope this series within Dateline has struck fear into the heart of many sex offenders, and make them think twice before continuing in their ways.

[brando]

not to offend any sensibilities it strikes me that if offenders that are not resisting are manhandled indescriminatly that can concivably become normal procedure for arresting your daughter ,son ,or grandmother in some jurisdictions :eek:

[BillCA]

I'd say the technique for taking down a suspect should depend on the likelihood the suspect will attempt to use violence to escape.

With child molesters, it's a 50-50 chance. Some will submit meekly while others will become desperately violent.

[Inspectorlee]

Here's a possible explaination:

In one episode (they may have done this in other episodes, but they made it a point to mention it in this one), Chris Hansen mentions that the sting is operating in Some-town-i can't-remember, Florida. He then says that the police take the suspects down quickly and handcuff them because Florida allows people to carry concealed handguns and the police do not want to take any chances. So the reason, at least in this episode is due to the presence of concealed carry laws. Again, they made it a point to mention it in this episode (I've seen like 6 or 7 episodes now) and I never remember them mentioning it before.

[9mmsnoopy]

I have been watching this with regularity too, and while these creeps need to be dealt with, this show is ALL about ratings and nothing more, NBC isnt doing this to help out mankind, once the show becomes unprofitable, it will end.

Frankly, its already getting boring to me, the same thing over and over with the same excuses from the dirtbags. Just once i would like to see one of them punch Chris Hanson right in the face, add a little spice to the proceedings.

[Omaha-BeenGlockin]

What's strange is how many of these guys talk to the tv guy and police--on camera no less ---without even the slightest thought of lawyering up.

[oldbillthundercheif]

The way the Hanson guy does his squeamish-expression every time he mentions guns is moronic. He said something like:

"I can't believe I almost had to confront somebody with a loaded .38 revolver in his pocket."- emphasis added when he made the disgusted facial expression and drug out the words to make them sound significant.

They should be hoping that these dumbasses show up armed if they want them to go away for a significant amount of time. It seems like they may be able to charge them with using a firearm in their crime if they do.

Seems like a good way to tack on some time to the less than 1 year sentances these guys always get.

[Smokin Joe]

It would be exciting to see that guy get shot or beaten at least once. show is so boring, always the same o same o.

guy in love with young lady gets hauled off to jail. with little or no fight.. :mad:

even jerry springer show has more fight.

[brando]

Thank god for jails and the D.O.C. and i beleave some if not most child predators will never be free from the monster that lives inside them unless locked up.
ive worked with a few of these guys in the addictions program at the jail here in indy and it is verry sad and i beleave they suffer from a sickness:barf: . jail is a good place and sometimes they will thank god that they have been caught and cant hurt anybody else.
while i understand the police cant see this guy as a sick person but a dangerous felon its sad on the other hand that they buy into the violence and drama for the ratings.
its my opinion that all predators have a loaded gun but rarley carry a weapon.;)
in the case of florida concealed carry law it seems to me L.E. should already know if this guy has a lisence to carry by running his plates.my question would be "how many child predators would be interested in getting finger printed and back ground checked and all the hoops ya have to crawl through to get a permit"?
if a guy has a weapon he is more apt to pull it out and shoot himself at this point after the camaras and all.if im not misstaken one already did this.
PEACE

[allenomics]

The authorities do need to exercise caution (think how easy it would be for a suspect to conceal a small pistol).

Sometimes the actions of police on the show seem over the top.

Take if from a former news reporter; since only a few arrests will actually make air, all arrests must be conducted in a manner that reflects the values of the agency involved.

And, besides protecting its officers, from a public relations perspective, what do authorities need to do so they are perceived by viewers as "doing a good job?"

[ulmer]

I detest the self-righteous Crist H. And the cops rough-housing the suspects. Sure, these are creeps but it's entrapment pure and simple.

[markj]

it's entrapment pure and simple.

Better the cops get them than I. As a parent I would not hesitate to do any of them bodily harm unlike a tackle.

Iowa has a task force that keeps catching these guys. Some from out of state. Many repeat offend, some kill the victims in fear of being caught.

[BillCA]

Better the cops get them than I. As a parent I would not hesitate to do any of them bodily harm unlike a tackle.

+1 there... but one has to be careful nowadays too. There are too many prosecutors eager to bag an overzealous citizen. Saturday a guy was charged with ADW when his 9 y/o daughter screamed and he found a 30 y/o man in her room. During the struggle he repeatedly hit the guy with her baseball shoes (cleats) and when the suspect tried to flee the father grabbed a skillet from another daughter and brained the thug. Local DA has decided that the concussion was unnecessary since the suspect tried to flee. :barf: It's unreasonable to expect someone to shut off their emotions in the heat of a fight, especially over the potential molestation of a daughter.

[Smokin Joe]

if it was my daughter../ as a parent...

I was wondering.. I know if some guy was having intimates with your daughter, at what age do you stop feeling that it is wrong...

I think if it was me, and it was my baby girl there is NO AGE that I'll be totally OK with some guy doin the you know what. she could be 80, and I would turn in the grave...

[njtrigger]

The point of this discussion is tactics used by the police to arrest a suspect.

The suspect in question is not say a bank robber or a known gang member, but some middle-aged guy that was caught attempting to rob the cradle.

In some of the episodes, it does appear that way more then a little force is used to arrest the suspects. In all of the episodes I have watched, the suspect never seems to resist, but the police seem to tackle and manhandle the guy to the ground.

The police are not supposed to punish the suspect, thats the job of the courts. They are only supposed to use the least force neccasary to take the suspect into custody.

The argument that the suspect might have a concealed carry permit and a pistol might be good reason to use a little more aggressive tactics then usual.

I feel that covering the suspect with a pistol, identifying themselves as police and then ordering them to the ground is more then sufficient force to convince these guys to give up. Manhandling and tackling a person who is not resisting arrest seems overboard.

[DesertShooter]

HMM! I've only seen a couple of those shows, and the police didn't "gang tackle" any of the sicko's. As a matter of fact, one of the suspects was an active-duty U.S. Army sniper, and he surrendered peacefully. Of course, they played up their "find"....weapons in the sniper's vehicle!

From EXPERIENCE, having had the "COPS" crew (camera and sound members) as a ride-along when I was an active-duty LEO, they WANT to see (and film) violence! I took a bank robber into custody with the "COPS" crew directly behind me, but the suspect surrendered without having to resort to anything beyond verbal commands. After the suspect was taken away by another unit, both members of the crew asked me why I didn't "drop kick" the suspect, or "body smash" him! I told them that being indicted for using "excessive force" never appealed to me, and professional police officers would much rather "talk" a suspect into jail, rather than to get dirty or possibly injured. As soon as I told them that, the wanted to ride along with a different officer!

[Eghad]

It amazes me to no end the fact that this show has been on for a while now and they still catch people. :D

[Diggers]

Yeah I have thought the whole take down part seemed kind of silly also. I have never seen anyone try to get away...usually they just stand there and wait to get tackeled. Pretty dumb.

But its good for ratings I guess.

I have only see the show 2 or 3 times and only parts of it.....like others have said same old thing over and over.

Sadly a few of the men I have seen seemed border line retarded, one guy was very happy because he got to have a cookie. :confused: I don't think he really got what was going on there.

Any how that show seems to have been done by now........ at least I cant watch the same thing over and over.

It is amazing how quickly a predator can be found online. My wife is a teacher, at a parent teacher meeting the school wanted to show the parents that they needed to watch what their kids did on line. It took about ten mins. to find a predator that thought he was talking to a too young girl. Crazy.

[markj]

I have seen other arrests, not on this show but others, sometimes cops get a shot of the stimulants our bodies produce and go a little overboard, it is human to do so. I see no wrong as long as no bones get broke.

During the struggle he repeatedly hit the guy with her baseball shoes (cleats) and when the suspect tried to flee the father grabbed a skillet from another daughter and brained the thug. Local DA has decided that the concussion was unnecessary since the suspect tried to flee.

I do not belive this would happen here, we are out of the Kalifornia code :) and can live as free men here :) If I was in that Dads shoes this guy would not have walked out of the house, he would have been carried in a body bag. We have had a couple kids killed by predators lately, nobody wants to have a kid lost due to a pedaphile creep.

I know if some guy was having intimates with your daughter, at what age do you stop feeling that it is wrong...


Forget it, you are too old for my daughter, I saw yer pics you posted. Fuggettabout it.

Seriously, she is 18 now and in college, I dont even think about those things as they would make me go crazy. After she is wed, then it is OK for me, I do want grandkids and that is about the only way to do it besides adoption.

I have a question: what do you as parents do to "protect" your kids from predators?

[BanginMusket]

I like watching the show. It makes me think a lot and it is pretty entertaining too.


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[Smokin Joe]

Seriously, she is 18 now and in college,

what if she madly falls in love with a 55 year old .. who loves her back real good ?

and the 55 year old looks great for his age, and has a great career and yada yada....

[markj]

what if she madly falls in love with a 55 year old .. who loves her back real good ?

and the 55 year old looks great for his age, and has a great career and yada yada....

I dont sit around thinking up what ifs bud. I think I know her enough to trust in her judgement. Now why not drop the whole topic on my kid.

[Kennedy124]

I like it when he quotes the pervs internet conversation.

[brando]

Does anyone notice these predators have no fear of Mr. Chris when he walks in the room most don't appear in a hurry to leave, casualy snacking or sipping a drink. :confused: Some get a little ansy when the cameras are revealed but most do not, I notice some anxiety exhibited when the officers appear again mostly not so much. anybody have a clue as to this behavior? I suspect the punishment is minimal or easily plea barganed. This isn't realy a tactic coment but I find the behavior odd.

[markj]

anybody have a clue as to this behavior?

I think they dont watch TV, they sit by the PC monitor watching chat rooms for prey. No time for TV shows.

We have a task force here that does the same, but I think they are on the thin line of entrapment. The ones they catch get locked up.

[biglabsrule]

My thought has always been this scenario:

*walks into the kitchen

Hansen: I'm Chris Hansen from dateline...

*suspect pulls a gun and shoots him dead

~I'm surprised this hasn't played out yet, seems to me these guys are going to loose most of their rights, I would think they would be more desperate. Can't see them taking on 15 police officers with shotguns exc. but Hansen is unarmed with 2 or 3 cameras shining on him.

Anyone see his interview with John steward last night, the 22nd. He said he feels safe, says they go over the areas, get rid of forks and knifes exc. Wouldn't find me waiting for a pedafile to enter and sit down all nicey nice...

of course: opinions are like ___holes, everyone has one...

[Cowart]

<<I'd say the technique for taking down a suspect should depend on the>> <<likelihood the suspect will attempt to use violence to escape.>>

<<With child molesters, it's a 50-50 chance. Some will submit meekly while <<others will become desperately violent.>>

Where are you getting the 50-50 statistic? - on the show, the only kind of resistance I have seen is when they try to run. I haven't seen anyone get "desperately violent".

[BillCA]

I'm saying it could go either way IMO. No specific stats to back it up. One never quite knows what's going on in the mind of a child-predator or what he's done in the past. I think a lot of them realize they're sick, twisted SOB's and if they're caught they can plead for psychological help on the State's dime. Unfortunately, you run the risk of arresting a guy for molesting little Sally unaware that he's actually killed two other kids. He may make a desperate attempt to flee unless you have plenty of uniforms to hold him down.

Y'know, come to think of it, child molesters may not put up much resistance to adult authority. Part of their problem is the inability to feel adequate among other adults (so I'm told). Rapists and molesters of adults will probably be more likely to resist capture.

[Beckerich]

they tackle them for the camera and because they can. they wouldnt tackle him if he had a shotgun [ they'de shoot him i know, i just mean they wouldnt do it if they werent sure they would win.]

[nbk2000]

I like how we have the whole 'presumed innocent' concept of law thrown out the window because of slick editing, ominous background music, and jingoistic buzzwords like 'Predator'.

If you like these shows, why not do your own version, where you pretend to be a lolita, and lure some 'predator' to your lair. And then beat the snot out of him with rubber hoses prior to cutting off his nuts and stuffing them down his throat before hanging him from your noose in the garage?

If you're really good with the video-editing software that came with your e-machine, you could even get a jury to nominate you for an award or something.

I'd love to see one of these 'predators" :rolleyes: have the balls to jump up when the pretty boy comes out to confromt them, scream ALLAH AKBAR!, and rip open his coat with a (fake) suicide vest underneath.

:D :D

They'd have to edit out the pretty boy soiling himself. ;)

But seriously, if you know these cheesy ratings-whore stings are going on, why on earth wouldn't you make a 'date', and then watch the place from FAR away, and see if anyone else comes rolling up and getting rolled up?

If it wasn't a sting, you could always make another 'date', but the only people in 'teen' chat-rooms are perverts and cops pretending to be lolitas, so you'd be stupid to even try it.

Yes, these guys are probably freaks, but since when the hell is it the cops job to play bit-parts as the hard-ass by dog-piling these dudes?

I like the whole low-angle camera angles too, where the camera man has to run along with the camera just a foot of the ground for that extra effect. :rolleyes:

Just surround the dude and tell him to give it up. Between the electro-torture guns and asphyxiating gas dispensers (TASER and MACE), you can take the freak even if he resists, without the dramatic dog-pile.

Hell, I'm betting the Dateline producers are just dreaming at night about the ratings they'd get if they caught a freak and he went out guns blazing, making the thin blue line bleed real red. The media whores could give a rats ass about their bit-players lives.

And where's the follow-up?

How long are the supposed 'predators' getting?

[Capt Charlie]

I've been scratching my head trying to figure out just how this relates to Tactics and Training, and I've come to the long overdue conclusion that it doesn't.

Off topic and closed.