WASHINGTON -- Police and prosecutors are worried that a Web siteclaiming to identify more than 4,000 informants and undercoveragents will cripple investigations and hang targets on witnesses.
The Web site, WhosaRat .com, first caught the attention ofauthorities after a Massachusetts man put it online and named a fewdozen people as turncoats in 2004.
Since then, it has grown into a clearinghouse for mug shots,court papers and rumors.
Federal prosecutors say the site was set up to encourageviolence, and federal judges around the country were recently warnedthat witnesses in their courtrooms may be profiled online.
VICTIMS WON'T TALK
"My concern is making sure cooperators are adequately protectedfrom retaliation," said Chief Judge Thomas Hogan.
The Web site is the latest unabashedly public effort to identifywitnesses or discourage helping police. "Stop Snitching" T-shirtshave been sold and popular hip-hop lyrics disparage or threatenpeople who help police.
Such threats hinder criminal investigations, said RonaldTeachman, police chief in New Bedford, Mass., where murder caseshave been stymied by witness silence.
"Every shooting we have to treat like homicide. The victim'salive but he's not cooperative," Teachman said. "These kids have theidea that the worst offense they can commit is to cooperate with thepolice."
'Things happen to people'
A WhosaRat spokesman identifying himself as Anthony Capone saidthe site does not condone violence.
"If people got hurt or killed, it's kind of on them. They knewthe dangers of becoming an informant," Capone said. "We'd feel bad,don't get me wrong, but things happen to people." AP
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