Murrieta, CA. – A California police department which sparked hilarity by using superimposed Lego heads to protect the identities of captured suspects has been asked to stop by the toy manufacturer.
The Daily Mail reports that the Murrieta Police Department had been editing the images onto suspects’ pictures after a new law prohibited them from sharing suspect photos and mugshots for non-violent crimes.
‘The Lego Group reached out to us and respectfully asked us to refrain from using their intellectual property in our social media content which of course we understand and will comply with,’ the department said in a statement.
While the law passed at the start of the year, Murrieta PD has been covering suspects’ faces with everything from emojis to Shrek for several years as it prioritizes the presumption of innocence.
The agency began covering the faces of suspects after a January 1st law passed in California that that restricts the how and when law enforcement agencies in California share suspect photos & mugshots.’
The department said that the new law, Assembly Bill 994 & Penal Code 13665, prevents them from sharing suspect images for nonviolent crimes – unless specified circumstances exist.
The new law requires agencies to remove suspect mugshots from social media after 14 days, unless special circumstances exist.
