Media must censor photos of suspects not convicted in court yet, says state CID chief

KUCHING: The police are advising the media, especially online news portals and Facebook pages, not to publish mugshot photos of crime suspects without first censoring their faces.

In a press statement yesterday, state CID head Datuk Dev Kumar said publishing a photo of a suspect before a judicial process could cause irreparable damage to the reputation of the suspect, along with his or her family members, along with mental trauma and stigmatisation.

This issue came to light after the police were alerted to a post in a Facebook news page that quoted a press release by the Kuching district police chief on the arrest of three women on Sept 10 for suspected drug activities.

The post was accompanied by police mugshot photos of the three women.

“The posting received hundreds of comments from netizens denouncing the Facebook page for publishing the photos and the police for releasing the photos,” said Dev Kumar, adding the suspects have not been convicted in a court of law and are innocent until proven guilty.

He further said that the police have managed to identify an individual connected with the page and ordered for the post to be removed immediately.

“The posting was subsequently deleted but the damage has already been done,” he lamented.

On another note, Sarawak Police Commissioner Datuk Amer Awal has directed an internal investigation on the release of the mugshot photos to the media, with those found to be responsible for the release set to face disciplinary action.