DATE: December 18, 2006

Subject: Update on WhosARat.com

Please let everyone know that the Whosarat.com website is not to be trifled with. It is a reverse look up site that will grab the inquirer's web IP address and add your info to the list of inquiring officers. The website is owned by a former brilliant defense attorney who ingeniously developed his plan. He originally sent a flyer to almost every law enforcement agency in the US informing them that there is a website coming out known as, "whosarat.com". He failed to mention he was the owner.

He informed all LE agencies that they should have their undercover guys go on the site to see if they had been compromised. Well initially, he did not have any intel but soon enough as soon as every good u/c cop in the country began checking the site, he soon had a great list to add to his site.

Trust me fellow officers, even if your curious, stay off the site. If you're not on there already, a simple inquiry from you will easily add you to the site. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Whosarat.com is a controversial website, which, in its words, allows individuals to "post, share and request any and all information that has been made public at some point to at least 1 person of the public prior to posting it on this site pertaining to local, state and federal Informants and Law Enforcement Officers."

The site was founded in August 2004 by Sean Bucci, who is fighting marijuana dealing charges. A Boston Herald story quoted him as saying "I'm trying to level the playing field." His experiences gave him "a deep, deep hate for the system for the way they handle informants." The site's extensive disclaimer notes that in part that "All posts made by users should be considered as inaccurate opinions unless backed by official documents." It urges members to "Please post informants that are involved with nonviolent crimes only."

A Boston Globe reporter illustrated the site's mix of false and true information by interviews by quoting both a site user who "had knowingly posted false information about people she did not believe to be informants" and "a paid informant for the FBI [who] has been living on the run, afraid for his life, since his profile appeared on the Southwest Michigan’s 5th District Field Intelligence Group website."

The Department of Homeland Security is said to have issued an advisory about the site, warning law enforcement officers not even to view the site. "Visiting the site could result in the compromise of government IP addresses. Searching the site for a particular name could result in that name being cross-indexed to the IP address of the computer used to make the inquiry. Searching for the names of officers or informants could compromise those individual's identities. Any website is capable of collecting IP address and search information from visitors, but this site is remarkable because it makes visitor information public."

The site believes it is protected by legal precedents set in connection with another website, charmichaelcase, which also posts information about informants. ProEthics, Ltd., an ethics training and consulting firm, named Whosarat.com its Unethical Website of the Month for August, 2004.

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Training tips appearing in this portion of the web site are just that, "Training Tips". Do not take these as meaning that they are the only way to train K9 teams. There are probably as many training techniques, theories, beliefs and practices used by people as there are dogs. The only thing that is common among them all is the specific goal intended for that particular training session or tip. When problem solving tips appear, they to are just one of many. You must remember that no two dogs are the same and one method of doing something does not work on every single dog. Training techniques must be flexible from dog to dog. Please keep an open mind when reading these tips. Use what you can, modify what you want and discard what you wish. Please feel free to contact NAPWDA with your questions or comments. Take Care, Train Hard and STAY SAFE!