GRANTED – There *are* many cops that go around abusing authority and privilege. And, with all due respect, there are doctors doing the same thing in overbilling insurance, writing prescriptions for trade or monetary gain, et cetera.

That being said, these sites are inherently flawed in that they RARELY attract good reviews… and are subtly – but noticably – geared more towards visitors that have a grievance of some sort.

Ratings sites don’t help the GOOD professionals by attracting GOOD ratings, they damage ALL professionals in the respective field by spotlighting bad experiences.

Look at this through the eyes of the travel industry. It may seem a little weird, and even a little debasing… but the trends of travel industry ratings sites are directly applicable to this. A recent study found that a traveler who has had a bad experience is at least five times more likely to write an online review about a hotel than a traveler who has had a great experience at the same hotel. Not to mention the well-established view that the more times you talk or write about a bad experience, the worse you tend to portray the original event or circumstance each time.

Seems to me that if you look at the national trend with other ratings sites, you’ll find that a site like ratemycop.com is heavily biased towards those with “bones to pick.”

I am very liberal, non-religious, and by no means agree with the views of the wackadoo conservative comments here. But even I must admit that these ratings sites are nothing but trouble… and do more harm than good.

A very good, much older friend of mine was recently a victim of an online contractor ratings site. He’s been in business for over 40 years, is highly successful, well-loved in his community… and a very fair businessman.

When *one* of his customers wanted a costly repair completed, however… they flipped out when he informed them that there would be a cost because their warranty had expired. Now, when one searches for his respectable company on the web, his official website competes with the listings for his negative rating on the contractor site, and all the blogs now linking to it! He’s received dozens of hateful, anonymous emails from people totally unrelated to the situation… and in general it has been very damaging to his business!

Don’t get me wrong… cops, doctors, and other professionals that break the law or have an attitude NEED to be publicly exposed and humiliated… but not through ratings sites.

Seems like a very simple numbers game here. Ratings sites hurt more people than they help.

When I was medical school, a gunman entered the ER and killed 2 ER physicians. I was across the street in my apartment complex. These are my personal experiences and I have for the most part lived in either rural areas or cities with low crime.

Well…to begin with, many police officers choose to conceal their occupations from the neighbors and associates because of “officer safety”. They may work undercover assignments (gang interdiction, vice, narcotics) where the exposure of their occupation may place them in grave danger. How many doctors face execution because of the exposure of their occupation.

We’ll disregard your unfounded assertion that someone lied and just move on to the substance of your post.

Police officers are incredibly rarely held accountable for any sort of wrongdoing. Worst case is usually a paid suspension while taxpayers foot the bill for a civil suit. Even in the case of the criminals with badges that killed Kathryn Johnston in cold blood, there weren’t going to be any repercussions until the media was able to prove conclusively that they lied, fabricated evidence, and then attempted to cover up the murder they’d committed. It’s important that there be a forum where people can find out about such things without having to go through a cop shop that’s committed to protecting its own above all else.

I like this idea because of the statement of purpose, which I find to be credible and accurate. The above paragraph is half of it, but when the news only really reports the bad things that police do (albeit consequence free bad things), how can anyone know what the others are doing, and which police actually consider the rights of citizens to be meaningful?

Good stuff. Hope the site does well. And I hope you do some reading to catch up on modern day policing. If you’re not sure where to look, just post here, I’ll help you find things that will broaden your perspective. theagitator.com would be a good place to start.

Site cofounder Rebecca Costell “Our Web site’s purpose is to break the stereotype that people have that cops are all bad by having officers become responsible for their actions.”

When you lie about your purpose, what credence does than give to the subject matter?
There is no other possible reason for this site than the continued debasement of our values – and the enjoyment nihilists seem to derive from stroking each other.