And yes, as they said in the article, there actually have been a few shots fired. But they've also gone after hundreds of these guys, so they've managed to accomplish an awful lot of good. The one guy they detected a second time actually dropped out when he learned the girl's age. Deterrence by ass-beating works.
Sounds great in theory, but in practice, how do these guys determine that the person pulling up to the location is actually the perp? If they are choosing a hotel parking lot or a rest stop as the meetup location, how are they determining with 100% accuracy that the person they are confronting is the person with whom they were communicating who was hoping to meet up with a minor?
I would just like to know more about their methodology to ensure that they avoid confronting someone who is completely innocent.