'Spoke to me informally, felt disrespected': Website lets citizens rate police stations like restaurants

A website has emerged that lets citizens directly rate police stations on their investigative processes and how officers handle cases.

The site, called PoliceMap, appeared after a revised Code of Criminal Procedure took effect last month. It serves as a platform where users can evaluate investigative procedures at individual police stations and leave reviews of how officers responded to their cases.

Visitors to the site Friday are greeted with the tagline "a public-participation platform for evaluating investigative agencies."

The site describes its mission as gathering "structured evaluations from citizens who have directly experienced investigative procedures" and says it aims to provide "fact-based assessments of job performance, not personal attacks."

The site currently lists information on 263 police stations and 2,688 investigative units nationwide. Anyone — victims, complainants, accusers, witnesses, lawyers or defendants — can leave a rating and review of a station's investigative process.

A separate "case public forum" board lets users document grievances and irregularities they encountered during investigations and seek solidarity from other users.

The site also features a "rights remedy navigator" menu: users select the type of problem they faced and receive guidance on applicable official remedies, such as filing a complaint with the People's Petition Portal or requesting a case reassignment.

The site's operators said that since the rebalancing of investigative authority, "most cases begin at the police level and end at the police level," adding that "there was no civic tool to watch and document that process."

"It is documentation, not punishment, that changes the system," they added, saying the platform aims to build trust in exemplary officers and identify recurring problems early.

As of 10:20 a.m. Friday, the site had accumulated 143 ratings and posts.

One user complained that police had decided not to forward a fraud complaint they had filed, writing, "On top of the delays, the way the case was handled makes no sense to me."

Another user claimed that officers at a particular station "spoke informally as a matter of course and even used profanity — it was deeply unpleasant." That user gave the station a one-star rating.

Positive reviews also appeared. One user awarded a score of 4.6 out of 5, writing, "Watching them work hard from the victim's perspective gave me a great deal of comfort and help."