To make a long story short, there was this police officer who created a fake username to lure and catch a sexual predator (who was never arrested by the way) on my website. I did not know what was going on at first, that is until I was told by another member who was somewhat involved in the police investigation. I was shown proof of this older member talking to a minor (undercover cop) on my site. So I banned the guy's account and tried to move on. Once my community found out about this, thinking the minor was really a minor, they went crazy and blamed me for "protecting" this sexual predator when I had no idea at first, and blamed me for hiding something from them. For that reason, I lost a handful of good members on my site who moved to another site and are now giving me and my site a bad name. The officer left my site and left the mess for me to deal with. I don't have a problem with undercover cops coming to my site to catch the bad guys, but shouldn't I have been told about this in the beginning? I would've given my full cooperation, no doubt about that. Is this even police procedure? My site is private owned, I do not run it as a business, but I do work with companies that advertise on my website. I've got a reputation to maintain, ya know. What do you guys think?
Well thay should of contacted the owner of the site first but this sounds kinda strange to me and kinda funny.
.you got screwed. The member's should've stayed not knowing that you had been having recent problems and not knowing about them. I hope this never happens to me.
You're caught between a rock and a hard place here. I sympathise with you but... I don't believe the police should have to divulge their prescense. They don't know you, your loyalties, anything. They don't have to clean up after themselves either. If they raid a rented property and cause damage they don't have to make the repairs, never mind the innocent building owner. This is no different. Make a brief public statement on your site. Don't get into slanging matches. If you believe in your heart you acted well then say so. If you believe you made poor decisions then apologise. Be open and upfront. Your advertisers won't mind if they see you cooperating with the authorities and getting rid of an individual whose actions are universally loathed.
I'd say you need to check and see if this officer was acting in an official capacity, or in a specific investigation. If the officer was simply doing this in his off time, or outside his own scope of duties, he is also a malicious user and should be deleted as well, no matter the intention or crime. They have rules to follow to avoid entrapment or other situations that could make any legal actions they may try to take fruitless. If you find that he was working on a problem, you should make yourself available to them, and make it clear that you are in a 'need to know' situation since you do not allow malicious behavior, and do not want to impede any investigation by deleting the bad visitor or the officer. I have a feeling you would have been contacted if it were an official investigation - before or after the fact - for further information on the bad guy.
I don't know the legalities behind this (you'd have to seek legal advice to find out for sure if police investigations require parties like you to be notified), but I'd say sarahk gave the most sound practical suggestion here. Many people nowadays demand accountability, responsibility, and honesty. I'd be all 3 if I were in your shoes.
I would also post a general message addressing the issue and would send private messages to the key members you lost.
I'm not even going to ask what kind of forum it is when there are sexual predators and minors roaming freely... but... are you even sure it was a cop? I mean really, how do you know someone's not just pulling your leg? Just post a thread to the forum stating that it was a big elaborate joke... an early April 1st joke or something... unless someone can prove there was an investigation...