Inside Report for April 15, 2008

• By SONIA SMITH
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Apr 15, 2008 - Page: 7B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Share

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

In a world where you can log onto the Internet to review anything from restaurants to professors, a new Web site allows people to rate their interactions with law enforcement.

The idea for RateMyCop.com was spawned last year when co-founder Gino Sesto was discussing traffic tickets with a friend over dinner at the Santa Monica Airport.

“I was sitting there thinking, ‘Jesus, everybody has this conversation. Why don’t we make it public?’ ” Sesto, 37, of Los Angeles, said in a phone interview.

That conversation led Sesto and his fiancée, Rebecca Costell, to send public-information requests to more than 500 law enforcement organizations, asking each agency for a list of its uniformed patrol officers.

Now, the names of 140,000 officers and sheriff’s deputies from 47 states form the backbone of the Los Angeles Web site, which was launched Feb. 28.

“The majority of officers get it — they know that they’re public officials and they’re open to scrutiny,” Sesto said.

While there has been some backlash, Sesto said, the site does not contain any  more personal information about an officer than would be found on a traffic ticket.

Reviewers on the site have to register, providing a name and e-mail address and creating a username, before they can rank officers in three categories: professionalism, fairness and satisfaction. Only a username is displayed with a rating, causing some to question the fairness of the anonymous sniping.

Only 20 of the 455 officers with the Baton Rouge Police Department listed on the site had been rated as of April 7. The Web site has yet to submit a request for a list of deputies from the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office, said Crys Spelman, who handles publicity for Rate My Cop.

The reviews on Baton Rouge police officers span the gamut from the favorable — “Was very busy but still took his time and explained everything. Very patient and understanding” — to the bizarre — “Very pleasant to deal with. Looks pretty good in polyester, too!” — to the cruel and vindictive — “She has probably never solved a crime on her own. She is the worst person I have ever met.”

One commenter praises two officers for helping her repair her motorcycle, then making sure she made it home safely.

Another commenter, identified only as JoeCitizen, praised an officer for being so courteous he “even offered me a backrub.” The greater context in which the backrub allegedly was offered was not available.

Other officers received unfavorable reviews. A commenter identifying herself as brookenicole wrote that an officer was terrible, abused his authority and threatened her.