New Blog 1: Pinellas County Mug Shots

Sunday 9 December 2012

Pinellas County Mug Shots

A mug shot, mugshot, police photograph, or booking photograph, is a photographic portrait taken after one is arrested. The purpose of the mug shot is to allow law enforcement to have a photographic record of the arrested individual to allow for identification by victims and investigators. Most mug shots are two-part, with one side-view photo, and one front-view. They may be compiled into a mug book in order to determine the identity of a criminal. In high-profile cases mug shots may also be published by the media. Federal booking photographs can be obtained by anyone through the Freedom of Information Act, except in special cases when the arrestees' record has been sealed. Many state correctional facilities and county jails have mug shots of their inmates and make them available on the Internet.