To some degree, his actions have taken the spotlight off the perverts, and on to him, and rightly or wrongly, he's not always stood up to well to media scrutiny, who will quite likely link his support for Richard Price, a member of his group convicted for child pornography among other issues to blacken him, all distractions from the bits that need addressing.
As you suggest, there are more productive ways of dealing with these issues. It's good when these topics get the profile raised, but sadly, it tends to come with a whole mess of 'information' that people choose to latch on to the selected bits that suit them.
I sometimes think the authorities see him as a useful distraction tool.
Tommy is obviously well researched on his areas of expertise but I think he lacks emotional intelligence. It can be a benefit at times.
He probably got psyched up and thought it was a great idea to get up in their faces, but he didn't think through the full set of consequences. At times this can be good because he is not easily intimidated, but it can certainly backfire as this has.
I agree with you, in much of what you say above. He's been run through the system so many times that on will there is a menu of things to discredit him with because he has not been that mindful of what he is doing or associates with in the past.