Cop-based reality television programming is a ratings success for the big networks struggling to lure viewers from competing cable channels and Internet entertainment. NBC seems to have hit on a winning formula for compelling television with its hidden camera series called "To Catch a Predator," which has thrilled audiences and garnered big ratings since its first airing in November 2004.
The "Predator" investigations, which are presented on the Dateline newsmagazine program, aim to identify, lure and detain potential child molesters who engage in sexually explicit chat with underage teenagers online. NBC does not run the Internet stings itself, for that it employs the online watchdog group Perverted Justice, an organization based in Portland, Ore., dedicated to identifying and publicly exposing adults who have sexually inappropriate chats with teens online.
PeeJ, as it is known, first collaborated with Dateline in November of 2004 and has since helped Dateline produce 10 installments of the popular "Predator" series. PeeJ volunteers pose as underage teen decoys in chatrooms and wait for older men to initiate contact. The decoys post youthful profiles complete with photos and girlish names like sara_so_bored or kelly_cheers. The chats are always logged, and if the conversation turns sexual, the decoy tries to set up a meeting, purportedly for sex. The decoy coaxes the target to reveal his telephone number, ostensibly to confirm the date and time of the encounter. With this information, PeeJ volunteers are often able to verify the man's real identity and passes the information to police. 
In its collaboration with Dateline, PeeJ volunteers set up a meeting with the suspected predator at an undercover house wired top to bottom with hidden cameras. With cameras rolling, the target arrives and follows an underage girl inside, who quickly disappears and is replaced by Chris Hansen, the show's host, who interviews the man at length about his intentions. Suspected predators often claim not to know how old the child is until Hansen confronts them with the chatlog that clearly shows the decoy's underage status. Some men say they came over in order to teach the child about the dangers of the Internet and that they had no intention of having sex; Hansen again pulls out the chatlog, which always betrays the man's nefarious desire. After the show had aired a few times, some men (only men have been snared in the Dateline stings so far) admitted they had seen the program before. Here's a clip of Hansen interviewing a suspected predator. Since the third installment of the show, and after registering the public's dismay with simply letting the would-be predators go, Dateline collaborated with police so when the suspect flees the humiliating encounter with Hansen, he is arrested in dramatic fashion by a squadron of gun-pointing cops.
After the third installment of "Predator" aired on NBC and drew huge numbers of viewers, PeeJ hired an agent to negotiate a consulting fee and put the group's services up for bid. NBC retained PeeJ's services by agreeing to pay the group a sum that was reported by The Washington Post to be between $100,000-150,000 per episode.
The success of the "Predator" series is, in part, due to the lamentable fact that there is no shortage of men willing to have sex with children. Suspects nabbed in the Dateline stings include a rabbi, a New York firefighter, a special education teacher and a criminal investigator for the Department of Homeland Security.
By the show's own count, it has netted 248 would-be child predators, 36 of whom have either pleaded guilty or been convicted. The others are making their way through the court system - none have been acquitted so far.
Host Chris Hansen regularly gives lectures to parent groups concerned about the dangers of the Internet and just published a book called "To Catch a Predator: Protecting Your Kids from Online Enemies Already in Your Home." Hansen was summoned to Capitol Hill to testify before a congressional subcommittee investigating the problem. Legislators praised Hansen and NBC for their efforts.1