It's now the law: No mug shots for those who charge to take them down

Yesterday, Gov. Gary Herbert signed the bill that forces people who want copies of mugshots to swear that they won't post it on websites that charge to remove them.

HB408, sponsored by Clearfield Republican Rep. Paul Ray, subjects violators to the same penalties as those who lie to police officers. Ray said he sponsored the bill at the request of Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder, who was concerned about the proliferation of mug shot magazines and websites.

Ray and Winder said the sites were not fair to people who had been arrested, not charged and were trying to get on with their lives, only to find their booking photos available through a Google search.

"The purpose of these mug shots is to identify criminals," Winder told the House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee during a hearing on the bill, "not bully or harass citizens."

Some of the sites offer to take down a mug shot, but only after a fee is paid. While slcmugshots.com states it will take down mug shots for free if proof that a charge has been dismissed or the person was acquitted was provided, it also runs ads for a firm that charges for "immediate removal" of mug shots from the Internet.

Winder's office no longer posts mug shots online, while the Utah County Sheriff's Office only posts tiny thumbnail shots that cannot be enlarged easily. The Weber County Sheriff's Office still provides online access to mug shots

But open-government advocates warn that the bill sets a dangerous precedent of government demanding to know what someone intends to do with public information.

"The whole purpose of GRAMA is if a record is public, you should have it and not have to explain why," Hunt said.