A man arrives at a local McDonalds in the Fraser Valley community of British Columbia, hoping to meet a 15-year-old girl he has been having kinky talk with in an online forum. The girl had asked this man, with the online identity of "laser2222," to bring drugs for her.

Instead of an illegal rendezvous with a minor, he is confronted by Batman and Flash.

"This man is a pedophile," announces Flash to the restaurant patrons. "He brought marijuana for a 15-year-old girl. He's here to have sex with her. "

Where are the narcotics?" demands Batman in this mock-interrogation. "Where are they?"

The confused target tries to slip out of the restaurant saying, "You guys are crazy!"

This is one of the episodes of a YouTube series, To Troll a Predator, orchestrated by three Chilliwack teens who have taken it upon themselves to make an example out of alleged would-be pedophiles. They engage in online chats, arrange to meet, then film interactions with their targets and post the videos online.

While fans on their Facebook page are encouraging them for their creative take-downs, safety is the main concern for the RCMP, who recently started investigating these vigilantes, two of them reportedly aged 17 and one 18-year-old.

RCMP Cpl. Tammy Hollingsworth has brought this case to the attention of the Serious Crime Unit because the police "wanted to make sure that they knew the ramifications" of luring adult men into public and humiliating them.

Cpl. Man Van Laer of the RCMP child exploitation unit says this action can have serious results that the teens probably didn't account for: "Now that you have aroused that male or that individual to the point where he's feeling that he might be meeting a child for a sexual encounter, if that person decides that he is going to go to a different school, or to a different meeting area or runs into another child, he may decide to act on the child instead."

It remains unclear whether or not the boys will be facing charges because the investigation is in its early stages. For now, the Chilliwack police have informed their parents, met with the three teens and asked them to stop their risky exercise. Hollingsworth suspects that these videos might be entirely staged but if concluded otherwise, the RCMP would not rule out the possibility of investigating the predators in the videos.

Putting aside the dangers involved, I feel obliged to commend these young boys on taking direct action. They managed to use creativity, social media and online communities to bring attention to an important social issue. Victims of their humiliation will likely think twice before heading out to meet another 15-year-old girl. While their vigilante videos aren't likely going to change perverse sexual behaviours in these men, they may put a pinch of fear of being caught in them.

I also find it ironic that the RCMP's priority is investigating these teenagers before going after the sexual predators who walk free. It is understandable that the police want to discipline the teens, but in doing so they can't put the evidence brought forth by their actions on the back-burner.

Do you think that their activism is commendable? Are they putting themselves at risk of danger with little reward? Is the police response appropriate?