Mugshot covers hit brick wall
Lego tells Murrieta police to stop using pieces to shield faces
LOS ANGELES — A Southern California police department has been handcuffed by Lego after the toy company asked the agency to stop adding Lego heads to cover the faces of suspects in images it shares on social media.
The Murrieta Police Department has been using Lego heads and emojis to cover people’s faces in posts on social sites since at least early 2023. But the altered photos went viral last week after the department posted a statement about its policy, prompting several news articles and, later, the request from Lego.
“Why the covered faces?” the department wrote March 18 in an Instagram post that featured five people in a lineup, their faces covered by Lego heads with varying expressions. The post went on to reference a California law that took effect Jan. 1, limiting departments in sharing mugshots on social media.
“The Murrieta Police Department prides itself in its transparency with the community, but also honors everyone’s rights & protections as afforded by law; even suspects,” the department wrote.
Across the U.S., law enforcement agencies have often posted galleries of photos for “Mugshot Mondays” and “Wanted Wednesdays” to social media in efforts to bolster community engagement. But experts increasingly point to the harmful effects of putting such images online. For people awaiting trial, mugshots can carry a presumption of guilt.
Under California’s new law, police departments and sheriff ’s offices are now required to remove any booking photo they shared on social media — including of people arrested for violent offenses — within 14 days unless specific circumstances exist, like the person remains a fugitive and an imminent threat to public safety.
It builds on a previous version that took effect in 2022. The prior law prohibited posting mugshots of all non-violent offenders unless those circumstances exist. It also said departments should remove mugshots already posted to social media identifying any defendant who requests it if they can prove their record was sealed, their conviction was expunged or they were found not guilty, among a handful of other reasons.