One of America's leading news programmes has come under severe criticism after teaming up with a group of vigilantes to entrap suspected paedophiles at a quiet suburban street in Texas.

Over four days last week, a team of reporters from Dateline, the flagship NBC investigations programme, rigged up a house on a cul-de-sac in Murphy, Texas, with cameras and microphones and recorded the arrest of 21 men, including a school teacher, who were invited to the house with the promise of under-age sex.

One of the suspects committed suicide rather than face arrest.

The producers of the show had collaborated with members of Perverted Justice, a group of vigilantes committed to "slamming wannabe pedophiles", who posed as young boys in chat rooms to lure the suspected abusers to the house, where they were detained by police.

But the makers of the programme were criticised by local residents, who were not given any notice of the operation and objected to the deliberate gathering of alleged paedophiles near their homes.

The sting attracted even more attention when a local prosecutor, who had exchanged graphic messages with a volunteer for Perverted Justice, refused to come to the house but shot himself in the head as police entered his house to carry out a search. Louis William Conradt Jr., who was 56, died on arrival at hospital.

Local residents and politicians — the Mayor of Murphy had no advance knowledge of the sting — have accused the Murphy Police Chief, Billy Myrick, of endangering the community by inviting suspected paedophiles to an ordinary surburban street and for collaborating with vigilantes.

"The city brought sexual predators to Murphy, specifically to my neighborhood. I definitely want these perverts off the streets, but I question our city leaders' method and motivation," wrote Colleen Halbert, of Murphy, to The Dallas Morning News today.

"Why not create the needed Crimes Against Children Unit, instead of working with a controversial watchdog group and a TV show? Why subject any neighborhood to this danger? There were many children out walking home from school Friday or riding their bikes Saturday, while predators were roaming our neighborhood."

Michael Smith, who lives across the road from the house where the 21 men were arrested, told The Los Angeles Times that his family had been unsettled by the raid. "It was too close to my family, 20 to 50 feet away," he said. "It was a very stressful and disturbing week."

Patricia Conradt, the sister of Conradt, blamed the high profile raid for driving her brother to suicide, even though police insist that the former assistant district attorney was served with a warrant in the usual way. "When these people came after him for a news show and sensationalism, it ended his life," she said.

The operation, which followed a similar raid in Murphy in July, in which four suspected paedophiles were arrested, has also drawn praise. Richard Buchanan, of Allen, Texas, wrote to The Dallas Morning News, telling local police: "You're more than welcome to use my home next time. I would be glad to see 21 more perverts off the street."

Dateline and Perverted Justice also stand by the methods used in the making of the programme. In a statement on their website, Perverted Justice promised to continue entrapping suspected paedophiles and attacked the "elitists" who have criticised the organisation.

"We will work in suburbs, farmland, cities and slums to make this happen, to make predators fear every kind of landscape and socio-economic class. Even in the face of ignorance, even in the face of unrealistic sentiment by people out of touch with society, even in the face of stupid bellicose statements by soundbite-hungry politicians," the group wrote.

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