An engaged police force is an effective police force. This is why police departments across the country often run features on their social media accounts such as “Mug Shot Monday” or “Wanted Wednesday.” The thinking is, the more members of a community engage with police online, the more likely they are to trust and respect them in real life.
Unfortunately, in our digital age, images posted online are forever. So a man falsely charged with a crime could have his professional or even social life ruined by one police department’s decision to post his mug shot online.
Many states have accordingly passed privacy laws that prohibit the posting of mug shots of all nonviolent offenders, and even violent offenders must have their photos taken down after 14 days unless they are a fugitive or a threat
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