They say that amateur sleuths have a very limited role, if any, in policing the Internet. But that's where citizen involvement should end, said Peter Banks, director of training for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. They can create bad case law. Participating in the trade of child pornography, for whatever reason, also helps perpetuate the marketplace. And, as Hilton and Upham discovered, vigilantes can end up breaking the law.
Most police think that, on balance, amateur online detectives do more harm than good.
Amateurs also can impede police investigations. We need to collect the evidence and prosecute them.