Southern California police department using Lego heads to protect suspects' identities

A new law has one Southern California police department posting Lego heads instead of mugshots.

In an Instagram post from Monday, the Murrieta Police Department said they started doing this because of a new state law implementing restrictions for law enforcement agencies on social media. 

"The Murrieta Police Department prides itself in its transparency with the community, but also honors everyone's rights & protections as afforded by law; even suspects," the department wrote in the post.

The new state law, Assembly Bill 994, prohibits law enforcement from sharing identifying photos or mugshots of nonviolent crime suspects. However, a police department or sheriff's office can post a suspect's booking photo under special circumstances, including tracking down the suspect if authorities believe they are a threat to the community.

When law enforcement shares arrests for any crime on social media, they must use the name and pronouns given to them by the individual. They can use aliases of the suspect if it benefits public safety. 

The bill also requires agencies to delete photos of suspects from social media within 14 days of posting, no matter the crime. 

"In order to share what is happening in Murrieta, we chose to cover the faces of suspects to protect their identity while still aligning with the new law," the department wrote on Instagram.

Murrieta police implemented the practice of posting Lego faces on top of suspects' faces before the law went into effect on Jan. 1, 2024. While they ramped up the use in late 2023, the first instance of the department covering faces seems to be from April 24, 2022. However, they used a sad-faced emoji in this case.