# Mugshots **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 12, 2012, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mugshots/624914 "2012-06-12T14:14:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mugshots/624914/1 "2012-06-12T14:14:24Z")
My friend’s mom is on [Mugshots.com](http://Mugshots.com) and she wants it off. Do you have any idea what she’s going to to do? ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mugshots/624914/2 "2012-06-12T14:27:50Z")
Reported. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mugshots/624914/3 "2012-06-12T14:30:41Z")
Moved to General Questions from About This Message Board. And I shrunk and removed the color tags from the giant blue text. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mugshots/624914/4 "2012-06-12T15:02:50Z")
> [@aues](#): > > My friend’s mom is on [Mugshots.com](http://Mugshots.com) and she wants it off. Do you have any idea what she’s going to to do? ☹ Nobody knows what **anybody** is going to do until they do it. Joe ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mugshots/624914/5 "2012-06-12T16:59:57Z")
Perhaps she will click on the large “Remove Mugshot” link at the top of the page and follow the instructions. But as **wheresgeorge04** says, we just don’t really know. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mugshots/624914/6 "2012-06-12T17:36:01Z")
I’m sure if she pays them, or one of their sister companies that collect fees to get her mugshot off, then they will take it down…until they put it back up on another site. I read recently that most of these sites are just extortion sites to collect fees from the people to get their photos taken down. If you’ve been arrested and have a mugshot out there…own it. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mugshots/624914/7 "2012-06-12T20:26:15Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > Perhaps she will click on the large “Remove Mugshot” link at the top of the page and follow the instructions. But as **wheresgeorge04** says, we just don’t really know. Well, she’d better click that link before this Friday: > [@mugshots.com](#): > > May 31st, 2012: [MUGSHOTS.COM](http://MUGSHOTS.COM) MUGSHOT REMOVAL SERVICE TO BE DISCONTINUED JUNE 15, 2012 OR EARLIER. ANY REMOVAL REQUESTS SENT TO [MUGSHOTS.COM](http://MUGSHOTS.COM) AFTER THE DATE HEREIN WILL BE DECLINED. WE HAVE EXTENDED THE DEADLINE TO THE HIGH DEMAND OF UNPUBLISHING REQUESTS WE ARE RECEIVING. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mugshots/624914/8 "2012-06-13T00:41:48Z")
What is the big deal about being on mugshot? Nothing says they can’t have just pulled a picture off the internet and photoshopped it. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mugshots/624914/9 "2012-06-13T06:14:05Z")
> [@aues](#): > > My friend’s mom is on [Mugshots.com](http://Mugshots.com) and she wants it off. > [@](#): > > [Mugshots.com](http://Mugshots.com) is a search engine for Official Law Enforcement records, specifically booking photographs, mugshots. Originally collected and distributed by Law Enforcement agencies, **booking records are considered and legally recognized as public records, in the public domain**. [Mugshots.com](http://Mugshots.com) republishes these Official Records in their original form (“as is”) under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, the freedom to publish true and factual information. (Bolding mine.) [http://mugshots.com/about.html](http://mugshots.com/about.html) Assuming the above to be accurate, there’s nothing stopping anyone from publishing the images, and you would be SOL getting an image removed from public access. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mugshots/624914/10 "2012-06-13T10:30:41Z")
Where are these sites getting these photos? It seems to be from only certain states, but those states do not have a publically accesible internet mugshot archive. When I once called the police station about getting a copy of a police report in the US the person who answered started becoming hostile asking me why I wanted it and demanding my social security number, I told her there was no way in hell I was giving my SS# out over the phone and hung up.And all I had asked was how or if I could get a copy of a police report. Or are some states more accomadating? ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mugshots/624914/11 "2012-06-13T12:45:14Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Where are these sites getting these photos? It seems to be from only certain states, but those states do not have a publically accesible internet mugshot archive. When I once called the police station about getting a copy of a police report in the US the person who answered started becoming hostile asking me why I wanted it and demanding my social security number, I told her there was no way in hell I was giving my SS# out over the phone and hung up.And all I had asked was how or if I could get a copy of a police report. > > Or are some states more accomadating? Are you sure you called the police station and not the public safety dispatcher? I can’t imagine why a staff member of a police department would get hostile about such a routine request. They get multiple requests like that daily, and they have clear guidelines to follow about who can get the reports and what identification is required. A SSN given over the phone would have been of no use to them. As for the OP, I have no idea what your mother is going to do, but I hope you’ll post a video. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mugshots/624914/12 "2012-06-13T14:27:22Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Or are some states more accomadating? Yes. [http://webbond.seminolesheriff.org/InmateInfo.aspx?bkgnbr=201200006746](http://webbond.seminolesheriff.org/InmateInfo.aspx?bkgnbr=201200006746) ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mugshots/624914/13 "2012-06-13T14:59:49Z")
> [@wheresgeorge04](#): > > Nobody knows what **anybody** is going to do until they do it. > > Joe That wasn’t the question. **aues** asked what she’s going to **to do**. (Not that anyone knows that, either.)😉 ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mugshots/624914/14 "2012-06-13T15:31:13Z")
Here’s a [story from last year](http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/08/mugshots/) about one of the slimeballs making money from this “enterprise,” himself an ex-con who “served three years in federal prison for participating in a small-time credit-card-skimming operation (.pdf) out of a Mexican restaurant in Tallahassee.” > [@Rob Wiggen](#): > > His year-old business has earned him enemies. Wiggen said he receives about 100 angry e-mails, and a few snail-mail letters, every day from people whose booking photos are displayed on his site. “Obviously, they’re really nasty,” he said of the messages. “I never thought I’d get this backlash from individuals. I just never imagined it.” Pretty meager imagination you got there, Bobby. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mugshots/624914/15 "2012-06-13T16:17:31Z")
Bobby sounds like a moron. Of course criminals usually are. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mugshots/624914/16 "2012-06-14T10:46:24Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > That wasn’t the question. **aues** asked what she’s going to **to do**. (Not that anyone knows that, either.)😉 I always like to ask myself: _What would Bing Crosby do be do be do?_ ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mugshots/624914/17 "2012-06-14T21:19:01Z")
Scatman Crothers would say: shoo be do be do wop. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mugshots/624914/20 "2013-09-16T21:29:49Z")
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