There's no downside if the complaints come from real people. An individual filing a series of spurious and unsubstantiated claims can be charged with libel, or

There's no downside if the complaints come from real people. An individual filing a series of spurious and unsubstantiated claims can be charged with libel, or safely disregarded. After all, problem cops tend to be systematic about their abuse. The red-flag pattern you want to watch out for is lots of otherwise unconnected individuals all registering similar complaints about the same person. Also, an effective rating system doesn't need to contain every unsubstantiated mark against a cop. It can aggregate results and compare them against an acceptable baseline and / or a rolling average. The real point of accountability rests with their superiors, who should be dismissed from their positions if they persist in putting cops with bad records out on the street. In essence, they're placing the public in harms way, which is diametrically opposed to their official role as senior public safety officers. If that's not a firing offense, I can't imagine what would be.