The "Vigilante #17540" Story

It was an ordinary day.  The headline on page A-1 read, "Vigilante Justice."  Wow, I haven't heard that word for years.  Brought back memories of Zorro, Robin Hood and even The Lone Ranger, all childhood heroes of mine from years ago.  Well, maybe not that many years ago, but...enough said.  Big photograph at the top of the article shows the side of a man's face from the nose down with a tattoo on his neck that read "17540".  Guy called himself "Mr. 17540", since he lives in nearby Leola, Pennsylvania which has the same zip code.  Mr. Justin Perry is 33 years of age and a self-styled vigilante, but totally different than my heroes from the past.  Seems he draws people to his social media page and then confronts then, in a bullet-proof vest, when he shames them before his massive online audience.  Not my idea of a smart move, but it seems to work for him, since he has had almost three dozen "busts" within the past couple of years.  He poses as a young girl of the age of 15 and hopes to draw older men into his sexual web so he can confront them, video-tape them and present text and evidence he has assembled on the perpetrator to law enforcement.   He has created a conviction in one case, but the embarrassment and stupidity of his "clients" is what makes him continue his vigilante justice in hopes of punishing his clients.  I will admit it takes quite a bit of daring to do what he does, but he does so since he has a 15 year-old step daughter that he fears may be approached by someone such as he is trying to get off the street, so to speak.  The newspaper story was intense as well as interesting, but the "Opinion" article published three days later by the editorial staff on the newspaper saw it quite differently.  The article stated that they believe in the rule of law, but enforcing the law properly requires dedication and education,  much like that learned while going to school to be a law enforcement officer.  Law enforcement is dangerous work that requires rigorous training, strict discipline and skills honed by practice.  Not the way Mr. Perry is doing it.  They go on to say that an untrained person, feeding on the approval of a crowd on his media page, can unwittingly cause a great deal of harm.  They also understand the impulse to want to name and shame perpetrators of child sexual assault.  Trying to catch sexual predators is serious business and should be left to trained people.  "Just flying by the seat of my pants," as Mr. Perry says, isn't enough.  The editorial staff concludes with...Some things are just too important to be left to amateurs, however well-intended, who are making it up as they go along, and being egged on by social media fans.  Mr. Perry certainly isn't Zorro or even Robin Hood.  His bullet-proof vest may not be enough sometime and he will wish he hadn't opened this can of worms.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an oridnary guy.