close
Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what’s clicking on Foxnews.com.
Join Fox News for access to this content Plus special access to select articles and other premium content with your account – free of charge. Please enter a valid email address. By entering your email and pushing continue, you are agreeing to Fox News’ Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, which includes our Notice of Financial Incentive. To access the content, check your email and follow the instructions provided. Having trouble? Click here.
A California police department is using a creative solution to hide the identities of some suspects by covering their faces with Lego heads in booking photos and mugshots.
The Murrieta Police Department explained on Monday that the placement of Lego faces is an effort to comply with a state law that prohibits law enforcement agencies from sharing images of suspects arrested for nonviolent crimes on social media.
MAINE SHERIFF HAD PROBABLE CAUSE TO DETAIN MAINE GUNMAN BEFORE MASS SHOOTING, INDEPENDENT REPORT CLAIMS
A lineup is shown with Lego heads covering the suspects’ faces. The Murrieta Police Department has found a creative way to hide the faces of criminal suspects arrested for nonviolent crimes. (Murrieta Police Department )
The law — Assembly Bill 994 and Penal Code 13665 — also requires suspect mugshots posted on social media be deleted after 14 days unless special circumstances exist.
“The Murrieta Police Department prides itself on its transparency with the community, but also honors everyone’s rights & protections as afforded by law; even suspects,” the department said in a Facebook post.
The MPD started using Lego faces to obscure the faces of some criminal suspects long before the law went into effect on Jan.1, a police spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
“In the interest of keeping our residents updated on public safety events in our community while, at the same time, respecting the new regulations, we’ve been obscuring the faces of suspects in our social media posts in various ways. We’ve been doing this for the past couple of years, and it’s nothing new to us.”
A pair of suspects with Lego heads covering their faces in a Murrieta Police Department social media post. (Murrieta Police Department)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
In November, the department said it chose not to post images of those arrested for a number of reasons, citing the presumption of innocence and the effects a post could have on a person or their families.
Louis Casiano is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to louis.casiano@fox.com.
A long-running malware campaign quietly evolved over several years and turned trusted Chrome and Edge…
Sometimes you need someone to answer right away. Maybe you are locked out. Maybe those…
Surgeons at Rambam Eye Institute have made medical history. They restored sight to a legally…
If the ads you see in December feel a little too accurate, you are not…
Recently, you may have received alarming emails like the one below from "sharfharef" titled "Wallet…
Technology shouldn't feel confusing or intimidating, especially when most of us are just trying to…