RCMP officer in B.C. faces child-luring charges after vigilante sting

SURREY, Canada – RCMP in British Columbia say charges are pending against a police officer caught up in a sting by a vigilante group dedicated to identifying and publicly shaming alleged child sexual predators.

Assistant Commissioner Brenda Butterworth-Carr, B.C.'s acting-commanding officer, says an unnamed officer is in custody while police investigate allegations of child luring and sexual exploitation.

Butterworth-Carr says the officer was arrested Thursday, a day after a vigilante group calling itself Creep Catchers livestreamed a sting where its members gathered to confront a man who thought he was going to meet a 14-year-old girl.

She says the officer has been suspended and faces a code-of-conduct review by the department.

Butterworth-Carr says the allegations are egregious and there is no room in the RCMP for that kind of behaviour.

Creep Catchers is a loose collection of organizations across Canada and has sprouted up over the past year with an aim to expose child predators by posing online as minors before meeting and berating them in person.