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RateMyCop is a new website that was launched on February 28, 2008. It allows anyone to sign up and rate their interactions with police officers. It gives the general public a way to speak out against abusive officers or praise the ones that go above and beyond the call of duty. The company raised alarms when it began collecting officer names and badge numbers, publicly available information, for their database. Currently it has 450 police agencies nationwide with 130,000 officers available to be rated.
Not surprisingly the Police associations that represent more than 100,000 police and sheriffs in California are now seeking legislation to see if they can eliminate the site. Police claims it puts them at danger. However I do not think they will be successful as they have no real grounds. It does not provide any personal information and it does not compromise officer safety. I think the real fear of Police is that it gives general public too much power. It makes police officer behavior more transparent. This is a good thing as far as I am concerned. Public have the right to remain informed.
Critics of RateMyCop.com say that most of the reviews will be negative and dishonest. They say people will get caught breaking the law then go on this website and give the officer who given them a ticket a negative review just for doing his/her job. This is debatable. Many people use this website to say positive things about police officers. In fact it already shows that most police officers are good and it is just the few bad apples that give police a negative image in the eyes of the public.
So to test this theory i went on to the website and the first thing I saw is the 10 most resent reviews and 9 out of 10 of them were positive. So lets see what some of them have to say? The first one for officer David Ludwig sates: 4/5 Stars "Pretty decent guy. Knew him from way back in the late 80's." Next one is for Mark E Laherty from SFPDl: 5/5 Stars "very professional in his behavior." Well so far so good, I don't see any rants or death threats.
Here is a negative review for Eldon Pullins from Quincy Police Department: 3/5 Stars "This cop turned a blind eye to a forgery and never followed up with my complaint. If he ever shows up at your door, just say "next". Just as I predicted, it took me much longer to find another negative review amongst the dozens of positive one. User by the name of "Tyrone" had this to say about Edgar Argersinger of Orange County Sheriff's Office: 3/5 Stars "He is the supervisor at the court where I was in jail. He yelled at all his deputies and called them names. He scared me and the other inmates."
This service has great potential. One of the features that is in the works will allow officers to log on, prove their identity and respond to the negative reviews. This could create the kind of dialog between police and the people that is much needed in our society.
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