RateMyCop.com

RateMyCop
Created by Gino Sesto and Rebecca Costell
Website http://ratemycop.com/
Registration optional (Required to post on forums)
Launched February 28, 2008 (2008-02-28)
Current status active

RateMyCop.com is a review site that allows United States residents to give feedback on police officers.

History

The website was launched on February 28, 2008 by Gino Sesto and Rebecca Costell of Culver City, California. The site launched with the names of over 140,000 police officers from more than 500 police departments in the United States.

2008 shutdown

On March 11, 2008, Go Daddy shut down RateMyCop.com after complaints from police officers.[1][2] After being contacted about the shutdown, GoDaddy responded that it was due to "suspicious activity". However, the owner of the site was later told by GoDaddy that the site was shut down for reaching its 3 terabyte bandwidth limit, although doubt has been expressed about the second explanation as the site had only 80,000 connected users that day and 400,000 the previous day.

Honorable Federal Judge Richard Smoak struck down Florida Statute 843.17 on April 30, 2010 that made it a crime to publish police officers' addresses and phone numbers to intimidate, hinder or interfere with their duties. U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak ruled that the law violates free speech rights. Smoak ruled in favor of a Tallahassee man, Robert Brayshaw, who challenged the law with help from the American Civil Liberties Union. Brayshaw had been charged with violating the law for posting on a website the address and cell phone number along with criticism of a Tallahassee police officer. The charge was dismissed because the state violated Florida's speedy trial law. Smoak also ordered the city to pay Brayshaw's $25,000 in legal expenses for his false arrest as unconstitutional for being falsely and wrongfully applied to the law. The State of Florida paid $35,000 for the attorney fees for the legal challenge of the law being unconstitutional.[3][4]

User interaction

Ratemycop.com has user forums where U.S. residents can participate in discussions (in addition to rating their experiences with a total of 2 police officers per week).

Regarding use of the site by the rest of the world's population, the site's privacy policy states the following:[5]

By your participation in our Site activities, you certify that you are at least 18 years of age and a resident of the U.S. If you are located in the European Union or elsewhere outside of the U.S. and you participate in activities on this Site contrary to our policy that only U.S. residents are eligible for certain activities, you do so at your own risk and initiative, and you, not us, are responsible for compliance with any applicable local and national laws.

Forums include:

References

  1. ↑ "GoDaddy Silences Police-Watchdog Site RateMyCop.com - Update". Wired (magazine). Archived from the original on April 3, 2009.
  2. ↑ "GoDaddy Silences RateMyCop.com". Slashdot.
  3. ↑ "Federal Court Strikes Down Florida Statute That Criminalized Free Speech when Criticizing Police Officers". ACLU of Florida.
  4. ↑ Randall Marshall. "Randall C. Marshall: Suspect who outed police officer victim of unconstitutional law that violates his right to free speech". TCP.
  5. ↑ RateMyCop.com -- privacy policy accessed January 17, 2013
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