#Dateline to catch a predator series

The issues 'To Catch A Predator' raises are tied to larger journalistic questions too important to be ignored.''Gotcha' Shows Aimed at Nabbing Sexual Predators Raise Controversy' (Accessed August 14, 2006)

John Shehan, the Cyber Tipline program manager at the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children.

Proactive online investigations are effective in identifying and ultimately catching child sexual predators, when conducted by proper law enforcement authorities

Media has done a tremendous service to our nation by bringing awareness to the issue.

Since the third installment, law enforcement officials have also been involved in the operation, leading to many arrests. The stories, which have all been done by Dateline NBC correspondent Chris Hansen, are conducted as an undercover sting operation with the help of online watchdog group Perverted Justice.

#Dateline to catch a predator series

Edward Hollingsworth V, Stanley Kendall, Timothy Knowles, Tim Gilliam, and the aforementioned Louis Conradt.Ī list of people involved in the Murphy investigation.Dateline NBC: To Catch a Predator (2004 – 2007) is a series of hidden camera investigations by the television newsmagazine Dateline NBC devoted to the subject of identifying and detaining potential child sexual abusers who attempt to contact children over the internet. This sting has yielded the largest number of deceased predators yet.Although the DA's office declined to prosecute the arrested men, it should be noted that they weren't on board with the sting from the beginning, drafting a letter to police chief Billy Myrick that they would not be taking part, saying, 'We are in the law enforcement business, not show business.'.Asif Khokhar was the ony man indicted and convicted of any charges from the sting because he lived in a different county and was charged by their DA’s office. The Collin County DA's office would also decline to prosecute any of the men arrested in the sting, dropping all of their charges. This would lead to the series being discontinued on Dateline NBC after it’s sting in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The fallout of this incident would lead to a lawsuit against Dateline NBC as well as speculation that the bust was done for television sensationalism rather than conducting a just arrest. Conradt would approach the SWAT team with a gun to his head and then take his own life.

Police decided to breach his house because they were afraid he was destroying evidence.

Murphy Police arrived at the Conradt residence with a SWAT team from Terrell, Texas which was where Conradt resided. Because in Texas the crime occurs during communication and not a physical appearance, the decision was made to arrest Conradt. The operation was proceeding as usual when one of their planned meets with an Assistant District Attorney by the name of Louis Conradt went silent. During the sting, the citizens against the sting staged protests in front of the sting house that were presumably broken up by Murphy Police. The sting itself was met with negative reception from the residents of the town because they believed the exposure would attract more predators to the town rather than deter them from coming. 25 men over the course of four days would be exposed at a sting house in Murphy, Texas.