The homepage of RateMyCop as of April 25, 2009 |
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| URL | http://ratemycop.com/ |
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| Registration | optional (Required to post on forums) |
| Created by | Gino Sesto and Rebecca Costell |
RateMyCop.com is a review site that allows American citizens to give feedback on police officers. The website was launched on February 28, 2008 by Gino Sesto and Rebecca Costell of Culver City, California. The site launched with over the names of over 140,000 police officers from more than 500 police departments in the United States.
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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.
Ratemycop.com has user forums where people can participate in discussions (in addition to rating their experiences with a total of 2 police officers per week).
Honorable Federal Judge Richard Smoak struck down Florida Statute 843.17 on April 30, 2010 that was unconstitutional on its face and as applied for a false arrest 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 on its face.
The ACLU News Release And Judge's Order
Randall Marshall, ACLU Legal Director Also Wrote An Article About This False Arrest