What Can You Do About Mugshots

There is nothing as amusing as viewing celebrities at their worst, and even looking through the mugshots of your local area can be entertaining and informative. But, there is nothing amusing or entertaining about having your mugshot up for all to see. So, it is a good thing to know that many of these mugshots can be removed.

Danger of Mugshots

The primary problem with mugshots is that they connect a potentially innocent person with a crime of any level of severity. Of course, being arrested doesn’t mean that the individual was found guilty of the crime. But, this especially unflattering presentation can make it difficult to seek work and carries social stigmas that are best avoided.

Public Information

In most states, mugshots are considered public information and can be accessed and posted on public domains. For this reason, those sites that have these pictures posted are not usually required to have permission to post the information they do. Federal mugshots are freely accessed to the public. Most often there are no laws that regulate how these mugshots can be posted and/or used.

But, there are some things that an individual can do to have their mugshots removed from the internet. Try some of the following approaches to having your mugshots removed.

Contact Webmaster

The simplest and most straightforward method will be to reach out to the webmaster directly and make a petition. Many of these websites have a contact or queries section where you can list your reasons you would like the mugshot removed. If the webmaster removes the mugshot this will be the easiest way to accomplish this task. Otherwise, the image will have to be suppressed by search engines.

So, the best way to begin your quest to have mugshots removed from online is to begin contacting the webmaster to the sites where these mugshots are posted. If this proves ineffective, move on to trying one of the following approaches.

Contact Google

Because Google is the most popular search engine in the world today, another good way to have these mugshots suppressed is to ask the search engine supergiant to intervene. Google will remove the search results for specific legal reasons. Furthermore, they may remove personal information about individuals if this information is damaging to their reputation or person. But, Google will need a really good reason to remove information that is supposed to be made available to the public.

Use a Removal Service

There are companies that offer a removal service that could effectively remove your pictures. But, these services are often connected to a single site that posts mugshots and your contributions will only have your mugshots removed from that one site. They can then be reposted on other sites. The only way to remove mugshots from Google is to push them down onto page 2 or 3 where nobody will see them.

Expunge Your Record

Finally, other options will be a little more difficult but it can result in having your record completely expunged or sealed. This will require that the crime you were arrested falls into the category of expungeable laws. This usually covers minor laws like drug abuse and not things that are more serious like sex crimes or violent crime. To pursue this course of action, considerable time must have transpired between the date of the arrest and the request for expungement.

This process will involve filing a legal case with the courts and asking that the arrest record and mugshots be removed from the public record. If this is successful, the order of expungement can be sent to the websites posting the unflattering mugshots. They can then choose to remove the mugshots under their own rule that forbid them from posting these mugshots or simply as a professional courtesy from understanding that these pictures can carry a negativity which is untoward in certain circumstances.