A police division in California that began obscuring its suspects’ faces with Lego heads will stop the apply after the toy firm reportedly reached out and advised it to please cease.
The Murrieta Police Division in California has been hiding the faces of its arrested suspects for years, typically in a wide range of methods. Final 12 months, as an example, the police division Photoshopped the faces of Shrek and Donkey onto two individuals it arrested for allegedly stealing $1,800 value of merchandise from Goal. The division’s latest apply of sticking Lego heads, which regularly boast comical expressions, on the faces of individuals it arrests didn’t make everybody chortle, although.
Murrieta Police Division Lt. Jeremy Durrant advised Fox News final Friday that it will cease utilizing Lego heads in suspect pictures, which it shares to social media, after being contacted by Lego.
“The Lego Group reached out to us and respectfully requested us to chorus from utilizing their mental property in our social media content material which in fact we perceive and can adjust to,” Durrant stated, in response to Fox Information. “We’re at present exploring different strategies to proceed publishing our content material in a manner that’s participating and attention-grabbing to our followers.”
Gizmodo reached out to the Murrieta Police Division and Lego for touch upon Tuesday however didn’t instantly obtain a response.
Some could also be asking: How did the police division get into the behavior of pasting Lego heads—and hiding the particular person’s face usually—onto footage of suspects? In a Fb put up final November, the police division stated it determined to undertake the apply after the California Legislature handed AB 1475 in 2021, which banned police departments within the state from posting reserving pictures of suspects for non-violent crimes besides below particular circumstances.
“A number of the causes [the decision was taken] have been the presumption of innocence till confirmed responsible in a court docket of regulation [and] the results a put up may have on a person or their households outdoors of the legal proceedings they could be topic to (public shaming),” the post read.
As well as, a brand new regulation that got here into impact in California in January, AB 994, requires regulation enforcement to remove suspects’ mugshots from social media after 14 days. The Murrieta Police Division nonetheless has its obscured mugshots relationship to a minimum of final 12 months up on its Fb account, so it’s not clear whether or not this new regulation applies to pictures on social media the place the suspect’s face just isn’t proven.
Lego’s purported request that the police division cease utilizing its toys to cowl the faces of individuals suspected of committing crimes is sensible. The very last thing a beloved toy firm like Lego wants is for fogeys and children to start out associating its iconic Lego heads with crime or get the concept committing a criminal offense is enjoyable as a result of police used Lego heads in a photograph.
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