When criticism of public officials and law enforcement officials is silenced, what you effectively have is a police state.

Wired.com’s Threat Level blog has posted a piece about web hosting provider GoDaddy.com’s removal of a police-watchdog website called RateMyCop.com.

RateMyCop.com allows people to rate and post opinions on the uniformed police officers in their community. The controversial site is trying to restore service after GoDaddy.com stopped providing service to the site in light of criticism from law enforcement officials.

GoDaddy.com has given conflicting excuses for its decision to remove RateMyCop.com, which does not do much for the credibility of a major web hosting provider.

Rate My Cop founder Gino Sesto says he was given no advance notice from GoDaddy about the suspension of service.

Police departments were bothered by RateMyCop’s plans to watch police officers in January, when the Culver City, California, startup began issuing public information requests for lists of uniformed officers.

The website has been online since February 28th. It stores names and, in some cases, badge numbers on 140,000 cops in approximately 500 police departments, and allows users to post opinions about the police they’ve dealt with.

The site does not list information on undercover officers and does not list personal information on police officers like home phone numbers or residential addresses.

Officers can also use the site to respond to posted criticisms.

A GoDaddy spokeswoman stated that the company wouldn’t comment on the issue due to its privacy policy. Sesto is currently arranging web hosting with another company.

The site is currently live @ RateMyCop.com.

Source: Wired.com

Here is a YouTube.com video from CNN’s report on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s plans for a billion dollar expansion of their criminal records database to make it “bigger, better and faster”.

The FBI’s criminal records database currently contains 55 million records on terrorists, criminals and other people. The expanded criminal database will add people’s biometric information like iris patterns and facial recognition records – personal physical information that is being called “Next Generation Identification”.

Privacy experts worry that the criminal database is going from a criminal tracking and identification program to including large numbers or ordinary citizens.

You can watch the CNN report in the YouTube.com video clip below -

A growing number of people, business owners and police departments are using YouTube.com videos to fight crime and capture alleged criminals.

According to a recent NPR.org article, a cigar shop owner in Mesa, AZ recently uploaded a security camera video recording of two people that stole two Seiko watches from his store, in an effort to embarrass and catch the thieves. The shoplifter video was viewed over 30,000 times.

Eventually, local law enforcement caught the culprits, when the stolen watches were found at a pawn shop not far from the cigar store where they were stolen. Although it is unclear if the YouTube.com video played any role in the capture of the shoplifters, it highlights a new form of citizen crime fighting, using video sharing and social networking sites.

In another story, the Johnson City Police Department in Tennessee claims to have successfully used YouTube.com video clips to catch wanted criminals.

You can view one of the Johnson City Police Department wanted criminals videos below –

Crime videos are some of the most popular online video clips and routinely generate thousands of views, making them one more useful tool in catching criminals.

FOXNews.com is reporting on a bizarre FaceBook.com group that encourages police officers to post stories of their police car collisions that involve pedestrians.

The FaceBook.com POLCOL ( a term used by officers to refer to Police Collisions ) group has over 300 members and allows member officers the opportunity to share POLCOL stories in which a pedestrian has been hit and even upload photos of their damaged vehicles.

A The group stories and picture postings has prompted an internal investigation from London’s Met Commissioner, as a number of the posts allegedly involve British police officers.

You can view the FaceBook.com POLCOL group ( with a FaceBook account ) @ Yes I have had a POLCOL.

Source: FOXNews.com

Here is a bit of unusual law enforcement news. The Associated Press is reporting that hot pink Hello Kitty armbands will be used in Bangkok Thailand to punish police officers who break the law. The offending police officers will be required to wear Hello Kitty armbands around the office as a mark of shame and embarrassment.

From the article –

Thai police officers who break rules will be forced to wear hot pink armbands featuring “Hello Kitty,” the Japanese icon of cute, as a mark of shame, a senior officer said Monday.

Police officers caught littering, parking in a prohibited area, or arriving late — among other misdemeanors — will be forced to stay in the division office and wear the armband all day, said Police Col. Pongpat Chayaphan. The officers won’t wear the armband in public.

The striking armband features Hello Kitty sitting atop two hearts.

“Simple warnings no longer work. This new twist is expected to make them feel guilt and shame and prevent them from repeating the offense, no matter how minor,” said Pongpat, acting chief of the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok.

“(Hello) Kitty is a cute icon for young girls. It’s not something macho police officers want covering their biceps,” Pongpat said.

He said police caught breaking the law will be subject the same fines and penalties as any other members of the public.

Source: Bad Thai cops to endure Kitty shame