RateMyCop.com raises hackles
Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:00PM EDT
See Comments (20)
Perhaps the biggest tech story of the week surrounds RateMyCop, a website founded by one Gino Sesto only two weeks ago as a true form of citizen activism.
The idea: Give Americans a venue to complain about police brutality and inappropriate behavior -- not merely venting at The Man, but a direct outlet to target a specific officer for his or her actions. RateMyCop stored names and/or badge numbers for more than 140,000 officers in 500 police departments around the country. Commenters could leave remarks about any one of them.
That is, until Tuesday, when RateMyCop suddenly went offline.
A crush of press coverage caused traffic to skyrocket, immediately causing the site's database to crumble. But it was the reaction from police departments that has the civics-minded more suspicious.
That response was largely as expected. Cops don't generally care for watchdogs, with at least one officer complaining that public databases of policemen puts officers in harm's way. (It should be noted that this information is all a matter of public record, though, and that undercover officers are not included in the database.) Another police chief said he wanted to create a law to make RateMyCop illegal.
A new twist emerged, though, as RateMyCop's disappearance was initiated by its web host and registrar, the infamous GoDaddy. GoDaddy first claimed the site was closed due to "suspicious activity," then later said that the site had exceeded its bandwidth limitations. Sesto says he's arranged alternative hosting arrangements and had hoped to have the site back up by Tuesday, but as of this writing the web page still shows GoDaddy's brusque "Oops!!!" error message.
The conversation has now turned to speculation about what really happened.
Was GoDaddy threatened by one or more police departments to shut down the service? (Similar tales abound online of GoDaddy pulling the plug without warning.) Is Sesto's right to free speech being violated? And what happens to RateMyCop at its next destination?
It would be a shame to lose a service like this due to strongarming and paranoia; it's about time Americans had an outlet to discuss police abuses... aside from YouTube, I mean.
UPDATE: Site's back up, with some bugginess, probably due to traffic overload.
POLL: What do you think?
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Comments on RateMyCop.com raises hackles
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7 Posted by tapsxviii on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:56PM EDT Report Abuse
As much as I feel the police need to be policed I have to take pause with rogueist's comments. Sounds like you have a lot of run ins with the law if you are reporting that manu offenses. Where there is smoke there is usually fire. That being said, there are good cops and there are bad cops adn there are medicore cops. Just like in any other organization. The website works good in theory but there will always be people who will make a cop look bad because they got a ticket and didn't appreciate it even though they deserved it.
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8 Posted by mrkprairie on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:28PM EDT Report Abuse
Why not "rate" everybody? Anybody that ticks me off should be "rated", even if they live in India and I am trying to get help with a computer problem. Really, is this rating limited to the negative side of the scale? Or is there provision for the positive side?
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9 Posted by herb90027 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:18PM EDT Report Abuse
The problem I see is that unless the police departments or someone official doesn't investigate the claims and act accordingly, it's just a waste of time. It does no good to complain, if there is no follow up. Lets face it, most cops do there their jobs properly, it is only a small percentage that abuse their power. They are the ones that need to be exposed and dealt with accordingly. Unfortunately, people are going to slander otherwise good cops, just because they give them a ticket they probably deserve and that isn't right. The cops should be able to reply to accusations leveled against them, that would be the fair thing to do. As I said in the beginning, if there is no oversight, it's just a waste of time and energy.
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10 Posted by phantomfish78 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:09PM EDT Report Abuse
I see people complain ALL the time about police officers and what they dont realize is they do things sometimes that may appear one way to you but in reality it is something different. Such as turning on lights to go through a stop light. Some calls believe it or not require NO light NO siren, in progress burglaries, domestic abuse calls etc... I'm not saying they don't use them to run lights when their isn't a call but just because YOU think it is an abuse of power doesn't mean it is. I agree that if a police officer has nothing to hide he/she should not worry about camera's or reporting agencies. However; we live in the real world and OVER and OVER again the liberal news media picks and chooses which clips to play of video's. Everything is not as it appears!!
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11 Posted by guinevere1989 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:14PM EDT Report Abuse
Tried to go to the website but it looks like someone hijacked the domain and a doll house page came up. Haven't seen the real website yet but I am interested. Daily I see police abuses and I think it is high time that the general public sees that our constitutional rights are being eroded by people who enjoy abusing their authority.
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12 Posted by akafrankross on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:48PM EDT Report Abuse
The police using the Doll House page for under cover??? Why cannot I have an under cover page??? Kudos to ratemycop!!! I have personally witnessed police abuse of their powers. What ever happened to Power To The People???
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13 Posted by eureka830 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:56PM EDT Report Abuse
Canadian citizens, myself included, are afraid, and rightly so, of the police. My formal complaints have been white-washed by police investigating police. In November 2004 I was robbed of $1,000(U.S.) by four Costa Rican police officers. My friends wonder how I can visit a place where the police can do that. At least they didn't beat me up, strip search me in public, charge me with assaulting a peace officer and resisting arrest then quietly not prosecute which repeatedly happens in Canada. I haven't been convicted of any offence in decades yet a year hasn't passed without some hot-headed heavy badged prick criminally harrassing me. Even if you catch them red-handed, i.e. videotape, at best they are suspended with pay for years and, if convicted, sentenced to house arrest or community service or suspended sentence to avoid a criminal record allowing them back on the street with a gun. Rather than be held to a higher standard, they are held to a lower standard with the ultimate penalty being the loss of their job (which routinely happens to workers who are convicted or imprisoned for a criminal offence). They are licensed to kill and the kill rate is accelerating while the crime rate collapses. Taser, anyone?
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14 Posted by eureka830 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:56PM EDT Report Abuse
Canadian citizens, myself included, are afraid, and rightly so, of the police. My formal complaints have been white-washed by police investigating police. In November 2004 I was robbed of $1,000(U.S.) by four Costa Rican police officers. My friends wonder how I can visit a place where the police can do that. At least they didn't beat me up, strip search me in public, charge me with assaulting a peace officer and resisting arrest then quietly not prosecute which repeatedly happens in Canada. I haven't been convicted of any offence in decades yet a year hasn't passed without some hot-headed heavy badged prick criminally harrassing me. Even if you catch them red-handed, i.e. videotape, at best they are suspended with pay for years and, if convicted, sentenced to house arrest or community service or suspended sentence to avoid a criminal record allowing them back on the street with a gun. Rather than be held to a higher standard, they are held to a lower standard with the ultimate penalty being the loss of their job (which routinely happens to workers who are convicted or imprisoned for a criminal offence). They are licensed to kill and the kill rate is accelerating while the crime rate collapses. Taser, anyone?
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15 Posted by tomadobro on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:14PM EDT Report Abuse
Link took me to doll house company...nice.
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16 Posted by ret_roch_cop on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:37PM EDT Report Abuse
If someone wants to post complaints about Cops, that's OK with this retired Cop but I have to tell you that the way that you posted your question shows an absolute bias on your part. Your idiotic questions are akin to "Do you still beat your Wife, Yes or No? The wording is totally slanted. Judging by the way you frame your questions, you probably have a glove compartment full of well-deserved parking tickets.
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17 Posted by grumpydad45 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:13PM EDT Report Abuse
I was'nt aware there was a site like this even exisited! I for one would love to be a part of it. I have plenty of LE abuse I could post about, just to let people know about them. I wished there was someway of knowing if and when it comes back to life.
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18 Posted by pechmatrle on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:05PM EDT Report Abuse
Well i'm from Milwaukee WI and I know a thing or two about police brutallity.Just a few years ago a bunch of off duty cops, having a party, savagely beat an african american male half to death. An investigation was held by the police themselves, and wouldn't you know it, all of the cops held responsible were found not guilty, well except one. He was charged with some minor infraction. We all saw it coming.None of the cops really wanted to cooperate with authorities.Because of some no snitch rule that the cops have amongst themselves.It took the Feds to step in and bring justice to the situation.And whats crazy one of the cops that was charged called in a fake bomb threat at the district that he used to wok at, and was caught trying to buy an arsenal of weapons while on trial.These are the people that we have policing our streets.You know cops here have been getting away with murder, literally. I myself have been beaten by police, and when I tried to tell someone within the department, all I got was the runaround.They do that to make you frustrated and just give up. It worked. I've been saying for years that we need something like this, because its getting out of hand. We need to clean up our on back yards instead of trying to clean up another countries that really dont want our help.
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19 Posted by liztrejo2004 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:54PM EDT Report Abuse
I call it the "Now We all Get to know what Britney Spears feels like." Dont want public eye, dont be public servant. Cops have been using tech on the public for years, having a whole persons life history at a traffic stop before they even get out of the car. Easy Prey for manipulation, harrassment and DATA PROFILE STOPS. Supreme court rules that your running your license on your car does not need probable cause. Yet the info is available only to law enforcement, and that the search itself is not even classified as a "search." When they say the internet leveled the playing field for everyone, they meant everyone. What goes around comes around. Redemption for All. Google ssays dont be evil, I say you Better Be Nice!
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20 Posted by shelly4884 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:19PM EDT Report Abuse
Re: "I have seen cops blatantly abusing their position for stupid things. For example, turning on their lights to not stop at a stoplight. As soon as they pass, the lights turn off. I feel they should be reported." You are telling of ur ignorance saviressej. These officers that are doing "stupid" things like activating their lights are likely responding to calls for service. There are different categories of calls, some of which require lights & sirens & a quick response, some w/ a lesser degree of seriousness, like what ur describing, & some w/ a low priority that would not require any. Different variables determine the officers response.
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6 Posted by marchfawn on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:06PM EDT Report Abuse
It is clear why the police don't like this site. It is also clear why we need sites like this. I hope the site stays up this time.