All You Need to Know About the Removal of Mugshots from Google!
Mug shots are performed during the booking process for anyone who has been arrested for any reason. Various state laws govern public access to criminal records, but some allow mug shots to be made publicly available almost immediately, so yours could be up in less than 24 hours. Is it possible to have it removed after it has been posted? While posting mug shots on the internet might seem valuable to the community on the surface, an arrest does not automatically entail a conviction. You may not even be charged with a crime, or your case may be dismissed. Any number of for-profit websites can display mug shots once they become public records once are released to the public.
Even local newspapers utilize these sites to generate traffic. People who search Google for their names may find the images that appear at the top of the search results along with mug shot links. Even if the person wasn’t arrested, found not guilty, or their records were sealed, the mug shots still pop up. It’s hard to contact every site individually, but you can hire a company to remove mugshots from Google for you. Costs range from a few hundred dollars to thousands, depending on how many websites the picture has been published on.
Should you consider paying money for removing mugshots from Google?
- If you pay for removal, the image will typically be deleted, but that doesn’t assure its removal for good. If you’re able to remove your mug shot, the next question is whether or not you should pay for it to be done. Well, that depends on whom you ask and what sites you use. Some remove mug shots as advertised, but others do not. It’s really up to the major sites that post the pictures whether they do anything about it. Many third-party sites will send letters to the other sites and follow up here and there, but in the end, it’s really up to them.
- If you want your mug shot taken down, you need to pay the site directly rather than through a third-party service. Since the site makes its money by making the payment and taking the picture down, it is the most reliable way to do it. In comparison, third-party companies are only required to try hard for you.
- You may be able to have the image removed for free if the case has been sealed or expunged. It’s tough to confirm the arrest when a court order seals the case file with the mugshots, so any website that displays it must take it down or face legal repercussions. With the case sealed or expunged, finding the arrest is virtually impossible.
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A mugshot or another picture that has been posted to the internet can be found somewhere. It is up to you whether you wish to pay a fee to have it removed. However, paying to remove what is obvious will probably be successful. You should begin taking precautionary measures immediately after removing your personal information from the search results so that it doesn’t reappear again.