By Ricky Sayer SYRACUSE N.Y. (NCC News)–Law enforcement agencies across New York State are responding differently to a provision in the 2019 New York State Budget that allows for police to withhold the release of mugshots. Ambiguity within the wording of law has led some police organizations to continue releasing the images while others have limited access to most photos, according to Cayuga County Sheriff Brian Schenk.
The budget, which went into effect April 1, limits access to the photographs because some say they are considered an “unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”
Multiple law enforcement agencies, including the New York State Police and Syracuse Police, responded to the budget Wednesday by announcing that “in accordance with the law” they would immediately stop releasing booking photographs unless the cases involved a specific law enforcement purpose, such as wanted or missing persons.
Meanwhile in Cayuga County, mugshots continue to be released. The County Sheriff, Brian Schenk, said Thursday he’s unsure how the law will affect their own ability to release the booking photos. Schenk said he and other sheriffs around the state are researching the law with the help of the State Sheriff’s Association.
“Our association is currently giving us some information and they believe that we may not necessarily, the way that the law is written, have to comply with that mugshot provision,” Schenk said.
The sheriff, however, is concerned with the law. He’d prefer that all mugshots were released to the public.
“We should be transparent and not hide that information,” Schenk said. “I believe the public has a right to know when somebody’s been arrested and charged and have access to those mugshots.”
He said April 4 that he’s waiting for the association to release a memo that could help to clear up the confusion. If it turns out the law does require local law enforcement to withhold the photographs, Schenk says they will comply.
Proponents of the law say people have been forced to pay hundreds of dollars to private websites to get the photos taken offline. Schenk says those websites “should be dealt with.”
Kelly Gonzalez, deputy director of the Syracuse Center for Community Alternatives, believes the website’s actions are a form of extortion the state can’t prosecute. One of the center’s functions is to work with formerly incarcerated individuals to help them find jobs and housing.
“We have clients who come to us and say my mugshot is still out there even though the case was dismissed and now every time I go for a job or people google my name, that’s the first thing that comes up,” Gonzalez said.
Schenk said he is open to the idea of taking photographs of individuals found not guilty of a crime off of the internet. The same could apply to people who are exiting prison, he said.
Mugshots also appear in articles and videos posted by the press.
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The Center For Community Alternatives office in Syracuse. The office works with formally incarcerated individuals to help them find jobs and housing.
© 2019 Ricky Sayer
