# Can you request your mugshot?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-request-your-mugshot/504340>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 26, 2009, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-request-your-mugshot/504340 "2009-07-26T18:44:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2009, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-request-your-mugshot/504340/1 "2009-07-26T18:44:05Z")

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Say you are arrested for any reason. Can you ask for a copy of your mugshot as a souvenir?

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**Author:** ![IAmNotSpartacus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@IAmNotSpartacus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IAmNotSpartacus)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2009, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-request-your-mugshot/504340/2 "2009-07-26T20:03:29Z")

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Sure, you can request it.

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**Author:** ![BrandonR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-request-your-mugshot/504340/3 "2009-07-26T20:12:58Z")

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Yes. It’s how sites like [The Smoking Gun](http://www.thesmokinggun.com/) get all their celebrity mugshots (which I think is through FOIA requests).

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**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2009, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-request-your-mugshot/504340/4 "2009-07-26T20:13:44Z")

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Asking for a copy of your mug shot is a felony in most places so, if you keep, repeating, it would probably make the universe explode.

Sorry…I have no idea. There are on public record somewhere I think judging by the number of them that show up on the web and on TV. You may be able to get one later that way.

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**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2009, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-request-your-mugshot/504340/5 "2009-07-26T21:14:18Z")

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> [@IAmNotSpartacus](#):
>
> Sure, you can request it.

Ok, but can you get it?

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**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-request-your-mugshot/504340/6 "2009-07-26T21:18:12Z")

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On second thought, this was probably a stupid question. I was thinking precisely about how all celebrities get theirs published and wondering how could one not being a celebrity get it without having a paper from where to copy it. I never thought about how the papers were getting it in the first place.

So who do you ask and how much of a hassle is it? And how can newspapers get them if they are not interested parties in the arrest? I guess FOIA opens that for them but I have no idea how convoluted that process is. It cannot be much since they have them in a matter of hours or days.