Why California Police Department Ditched Lego Heads in Suspect Photos

 A California police department is ending its practice of using Lego heads to hide suspect faces in social media photos—a headline-grabbing method of complying with state privacy laws—after Lego contacted the department asking it to stop using its intellectual property.

 The Murrieta Police Department in southern California had for months been posting social media images of suspects in various crimes with Lego heads digitally imposed over their faces.

On Monday, the department made a social media post explaining the rationale behind the decision, citing a California law meant to preserve the privacy rights of some criminal suspects that restricts law enforcement from sharing suspect photos for non-violent crimes—the use of Lego heads and the rationale behind it made national headlines.

Murrieta Police Lieutenant Jeremy Durrant confirmed to Forbes via email the Lego Group reached out to the Department on Tuesday and “respectfully asked us to refrain from using their intellectual property in our social media content, which, of course, we understand and will comply with.”

Durrant said the department is exploring new methods of publishing content “in a way that is engaging and interesting to our followers.”

The Department’s post that garnered attention Monday cited California Assembly Bill 994, which took effect on Jan. 1. That law, among other things, required police departments to remove booking photos of suspects shared on social media after 14 days “unless specified circumstances exist.” It also required police departments to use a suspect’s provided pronouns and name in any social posts. But the requirement to cover suspects’ faces in booking photos dates back to a 2021 law which prohibited police departments from posting booking photos of suspects accused of non-violent crimes, with some exceptions. The department’s practice of covering suspects’ faces goes back until at least 2022 (though it has not always used Lego heads), according to its Instagram page. Prior to that, it seldom posted any photos of suspects. Durrant told Forbes that, while the laws specifically cover booking photos and mug shots, the department “considered the ‘spirit’ of this new law” and decided to cover suspect faces in all photos, including the field pictures the department has been sharing. The department first had the discussions on its social media policy in response to the 2021 law, and decided to generally leave out all suspect faces, even in photos that might typically be allowed, according to a November Instagram post. The department cited the presumption of innocence for all suspects and concern about workload in trying to determine which photos would be posted and which would not be posted.


“Our intent was to focus our followers more on the good work our officers were doing in the community, not necessarily highlight the suspected criminals we were encountering,” Durrant told Forbes of the department’s posts.