Chris Hansen: 22 Years, Thousands of Predators, and What Keeps Him Going

Change Agents with Andy Stumpf

IRONCLAD

Society & Culture

4.9 • 648 Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 2026

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Chris Hansen, the investigative journalist behind Dateline's "To Catch a Predator" series and now "Predators I've Caught," "Takedown," "Have a Seat," and "Dangerous Games," joins Andy to break down his latest predator takedowns, including a 23-year DC police lieutenant who guarded the president, how predators operate online, and what parents need to know. Chris Hansen's documentary "Dangerous Games" is available on Tru Blu. Chapters: (00:00) Intro (00:57) 22 Years of Catching Predators: How It Started (08:03) The DC Cop Who Guarded the President (10:03) The Local Santa Claus Takedown (13:07) How Predators Operate Across Online Platforms (19:08) The Off-Platform Move: Discord, Texting, and the Damage (25:41) Teen Crises (29:11) Why Tech Companies Stall Real Safety (37:07) The 3 Types of Predators He Catches (48:58) Advice for Parents Sponsors: Watch Pressure in theaters starting May 29th. Firecracker Farm Use code IRONCLAD to get 15% off your first order at https://firecracker.farm/ Norwood Sawmills: Learn more about Norwood Sawmills and how you can start milling your own lumber at https://norwoodsawmills.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=ironclad&utm_campaign=ironclad Watch Pressure in theaters starting May 29th. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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1:16.0	We just finished a true blue investigation into the wildly popular gaming platform. Roll blocks. We found that it's a playground for predators. Men will go on there and try to exploit children. Welcome back to change agents in Iron Cloud Original presented by Firecracker Farm.
1:20.4	Our guest today is Chris Hansen, investigative journalist and the host of Have a Seat with Chris Hansen
1:25.0	and The Predators I've Caught Podcast.
1:27.4	Chris spent nearly two decades at Dateline NBC, where he created and hosted to catch a of Have a Seat with Chris Hansen and The Predators I've Caught Podcast.
1:27.5	Chris spent nearly two decades at Dateline NBC, where he created and hosted to catch a predator.
1:32.7	Today he continues to run sting operations alongside County Sheriff's offices across the country,
1:37.4	and his new documentary Dangerous Games investigates child safety failures on the gaming platform,
1:42.8	Roblox.
1:55.4	You know, I deeply appreciate, actually, that you spend your time personally and professionally looking for predators. I wish there was more people who dedicated their life's work to what you do. And then on the
2:04.5	other side of that coin, it's disturbing to think that even if more people did, I don't know if it would
2:09.6	solve the problem. You know, it's kind of like it's plugging holes in a dam, which we have to have,
2:16.7	that there's that upstream issue of why predators are predators in the first place.
	...

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