To see someone’s mugshot online, start with the website of the law enforcement agency that made the arrest. Most county sheriff’s offices, city police departments, and state departments of corrections publish searchable booking logs or inmate rosters that include the booking photo, and you can usually search by name and sometimes by date of birth or booking date. If the agency doesn’t post the photo publicly, your next step is a public records request to that same agency.
Check the Arresting Agency’s Website First
County sheriffs and city police often run a “recent bookings” or “inmate search” page. State corrections departments run similar databases for people currently serving sentences, and those listings frequently carry the original booking photo. Search by full legal name. If the roster accepts a date of birth or a booking date, use it — common names generate long lists.
Not every department publishes this. Some have pulled booking photos off their sites because of the reputational harm that follows when images circulate online after charges are dropped. Others simply never built a public search tool. A blank result on the agency’s site doesn’t mean the photo doesn’t exist; it usually means you need to ask for it directly.
File a Public Records Request
Every state has an open-records law that treats government-held documents, booking photos included, as presumptively public unless a specific exemption applies. In most states you don’t need to explain why you want the record.
Send the request to the law enforcement agency or county clerk’s office that handled the arrest. Include as much identifying information as you can: the person’s full legal name, the approximate date of arrest, and the arresting agency. The more specific you are, the faster staff can pull the file. Many agencies accept requests by email or through an online form; a few still want a written letter.
Timing varies. Some agencies respond within a few business days, others take several weeks, especially if a file needs review for information that has to be redacted. Fees also vary. For a single booking photo the cost is generally modest, and some agencies send digital copies at no charge.
Federal Arrests Are a Different Story
If the arrest was made by a federal agency — the FBI, DEA, or U.S. Marshals, for example — the request goes through the Freedom of Information Act. FOIA requires federal agencies to respond within 20 business days, though complex requests take longer.1FOIA.gov. Freedom of Information Act You can file through the agency’s website or by mail, and FOIA.gov keeps a directory of every federal agency’s FOIA office. Fees for individual, non-commercial requesters are usually minimal or nothing.2FOIA.gov. Freedom of Information Act – Frequently Asked Questions
Expect a denial. The Department of Justice has a longstanding policy of withholding federal booking photos, relying on FOIA Exemption 7(C), which allows agencies to refuse disclosure of law enforcement records when release “could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 5 – Section 552 In 2016, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that policy, finding that people have a meaningful privacy interest in booking photos because in the internet era a mugshot can follow someone for decades.4Justia Law. Detroit Free Press v Department of Justice, No 14-1670 6th Cir 2016 Other federal appeals courts have gone the same way. A federal booking photo can still be released if a compelling public interest outweighs the privacy concern, but that’s a high bar.
When a Mugshot Won’t Be Released
Even at the state and local level, some categories of booking photos are off-limits.
- Mugshots of juveniles are almost universally kept confidential. Juvenile court records exist in a separate system, and access is typically limited to parents, attorneys, and certain government agencies.
- When a court has granted an expungement or sealed the record, the agency must treat the booking photo as though it no longer exists. It will not be released through a records request.
- Law enforcement can temporarily withhold a booking photo if releasing it would interfere with an ongoing investigation or endanger someone’s safety.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 5 – Section 552
- Some states restrict release of booking information in cases involving certain victims, such as sexual assault survivors, so the victim cannot be identified through the arrest record.
Third-Party Mugshot Websites
A number of commercial sites scrape booking photos from public databases and republish them, and they often surface first in a name search. Two things to know before you rely on one.
First, the information can be stale or misleading. A photo posted next to a serious charge may not reflect the outcome of the case; charges get dropped, reduced, or dismissed and the site rarely updates. Verify anything important against the agency’s own records or court records.
Second, many of these sites charge fees, sometimes in the hundreds of dollars, to remove a photo. More than a dozen states have passed laws prohibiting takedown fees and requiring free removal within a set number of days after a written request with proof of identity. Even so, an expungement order binds government agencies, not private websites, so a mugshot that was scraped before the record was sealed can keep appearing on third-party sites and typically has to be chased down one site at a time.
If Your Request Is Denied
Under FOIA, a federal denial can be appealed to the head of the agency, which then has 20 business days to decide.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 5 – Section 552 You can also contact the agency’s FOIA Public Liaison or the Office of Government Information Services, which mediates between requesters and agencies.1FOIA.gov. Freedom of Information Act If the appeal fails, the next step is federal court, where the agency has to prove the exemption applies and the judge reviews the question fresh.
State open-records denials have their own appeal routes. Some states send appeals through the attorney general’s office; others require you to file in court. The denial letter should name the exemption cited and lay out the process for challenging it.