How to Remove a Mugshot From the Internet

To remove a mugshot from the internet, work site by site: ask the sheriff’s office or county to take down its booking photo, request removal from each mugshot and people-search site, and report any site that demands payment to Google under its policy for sites with exploitative removal practices. If your record is eligible, expungement or sealing is the most lasting fix, because it gives you documents that sites, editors and some state laws recognize.

Don’t pay a mugshot site to take the photo down. Removal from one site rarely stops the photo appearing on others, and paying funds the practice. There are better routes, and most of them are free.

Where mugshots appear online

A single booking photo can spread to several kinds of sites, and each one has a different removal route. Search your name in Google, and in Google Images, to find all of them.

Where it appears	Who controls it	Main removal route
Sheriff’s office, jail or county website	The law enforcement agency	Ask the agency. Many remove booking photos after a period or on request, especially after a dismissal. Policies vary by agency and state.
Mugshot aggregator sites	Private companies that copy booking photos from official sites	Request removal from the site, check your state’s law, and report pay-to-remove sites to Google.
News articles	The publisher	Ask the editor to update, anonymize or remove the photo, especially if charges were dropped.
People-search sites	Data brokers	Use each site’s opt-out process.
Social media and forums	The platform and the person who posted	Report under the platform’s harassment or privacy rules.

How Google treats mugshot sites

Google has acted against mugshot sites twice in ways that matter to you.

First, in October 2013, after reporting in The New York Times on sites charging people to remove their booking photos, Google changed its ranking algorithm in a way that made mugshot sites less prominent in search results. That change helped, but mugshot pages can still rank for searches of a specific name.

Second, Google now has a specific removal policy for content about you on sites with exploitative removal practices. According to Google’s Search Help page for this policy, you can request removal when:

• You are the subject of the content on the page.
• The site is not a business review site.
• The site requires payment, to itself or to another party, to remove the content.

If Google approves the request, the page you reported stops appearing in Google Search. Google reviews only the URLs you submit, so list every page that shows your mugshot. The photo stays on the site itself, but for most people, getting it out of Google is what matters.

Step by step: removing a mugshot

1. Find every copy. Search your full name, your name with your city, and your name with “arrest” or “mugshot.” Check Google Images. Save each URL in a list, with a screenshot and the date.
2. Start with the official source. Contact the sheriff’s office or jail that published the booking photo. Ask whether it removes booking photos after a set time or on request, and what documents it needs. If the source photo comes down, some aggregators that copy from it may stop refreshing.
3. Get your case documents together. A dismissal, acquittal, expungement or sealing order is the most useful thing you can have. Request certified copies from the court clerk.
4. Check your state’s law. A number of states have passed laws that restrict mugshot sites from charging fees to remove booking photos, and some require removal on request when a case ended in the person’s favor. The details differ, so search your state’s name plus “mugshot law,” or ask a lawyer.
5. Request removal from each site. Look for a removal or contact page. Send a short, factual request with your documents. Don’t pay. Our guides to Arrests.org removal and Mugshots.com removal walk through two common sites.
6. Report pay-to-remove sites to Google. Use Google’s request form for sites with exploitative removal practices. Include every URL, and screenshots of the payment demand if the site shows one.
7. Opt out of people-search sites that show the photo or arrest details.
8. Refresh Google. When a site takes the photo down but Google still shows it, use Google’s Refresh Outdated Content tool with the URL.
9. Check again. Search your name every few months. Mugshots can be copied to new sites over time.

Why expungement or sealing is the durable route

Removal requests treat the symptom. Expungement or sealing treats the record behind it. Depending on your state and the offense, a court may be able to seal or expunge an arrest record, particularly when charges were dropped, you were acquitted, or you completed a diversion program.

An expungement or sealing order doesn’t automatically delete every copy of your mugshot online. It does make every other route stronger. Law enforcement agencies may be required to take down records, some state mugshot laws are triggered by it, and editors are far more willing to update or anonymize a story when you can show that the court has sealed the case.

Eligibility rules, waiting periods and the process vary a great deal between states. Talk to a criminal defense lawyer, or a legal aid organization if cost is a concern, about whether your record qualifies. Some states now have simplified or automatic sealing for certain records, so it is worth asking even if you were told years ago that you didn’t qualify. If the arrest was for drunk driving, our guide to DUI expungement explains the extra rules that usually apply.

If a news article covered the arrest

A news story about your arrest is handled differently from a mugshot site. Google generally won’t remove accurate reporting. But many editors will add an update when charges are dropped, and some newsrooms have formal policies for reviewing older crime stories, including removing names or booking photos. Our guide on how to remove a news article from Google explains how to write that request and what to expect.

A worked example

This is an illustrative scenario, not a real case. A nurse was arrested after a traffic stop in 2021. The charge was dismissed two months later, but her booking photo still appears on the county jail’s website, two mugshot aggregator sites and a people-search profile. One aggregator displays a button offering to “unpublish” the photo for a fee.

She gets a certified copy of the dismissal from the court clerk and emails the jail’s records office, which removes the booking photo from its online roster. She then checks her state’s laws and finds that her state restricts mugshot sites from charging removal fees. She sends each aggregator a short request with the dismissal attached. One removes the photo within two weeks. The other ignores her.

For the site that ignores her and still demands payment, she submits both URLs to Google under the exploitative removal practices policy, with a screenshot of the fee offer. The pages drop out of Google’s results. She opts out of the people-search site, then talks to a lawyer about sealing the record so that future background checks and any new copies are easier to deal with.

It takes a few months in total, and nothing costs her a removal fee.

What not to do

• Don’t pay a mugshot site or a “removal partner” it recommends. Report it instead.
• Don’t file a copyright (DMCA) claim for the photo. Booking photos are generally taken by the agency, not by you, so you typically don’t own the copyright. False DMCA notices can create legal liability and are often published in the Lumen database.
• Don’t send threatening messages to site operators. Some publish complaints, which puts your name back in front of searchers. Keep every request short and factual.
• Don’t hire a service that promises to remove everything. No one can promise that every site or Google will act. Ask exactly which routes a service will use and whether any of them involve paying the sites.

If the mugshot stays

Some copies may stay online, especially on sites based outside the US or sites that ignore requests and don’t charge fees. When removal isn’t possible, search result suppression can make the photo much harder to find by building accurate, stronger pages that rank above it for your name.

If other personal details came with the mugshot, such as your address or date of birth on a people-search page, our guide to removing personal information from Google covers those routes. And if you’d rather hand the whole process over, our content removal service handles the requests, Google reports and follow-ups, never pays pay-to-remove sites, and tells you upfront which copies are likely to come down.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get my mugshot removed from Google for free?

Often, yes. Requests to sheriff’s offices, most mugshot sites and Google’s removal forms are free. Google’s policy for sites with exploitative removal practices lets you request removal of pages from sites that demand payment, without paying them.

Are mugshot websites legal?

Booking photos are often public records, so publishing them is generally legal in the US. What many states restrict is charging a fee to remove them, or refusing to remove them after a case is dismissed or expunged. The rules vary by state, so check your state’s law or ask a lawyer.

Will expungement remove my mugshot from the internet?

Not automatically. It doesn’t delete copies that private sites already hold. It does give you a court order that makes removal requests to agencies, sites and editors much more likely to succeed, and some state mugshot laws apply specifically to expunged or sealed records.

How long does it take to remove a mugshot?

It depends on how many sites have the photo and how quickly each responds. Google often decides on removal requests within days to a few weeks. Sites and agencies vary, and expungement can take months depending on your state’s court process.

What if my charges were dropped?

That makes every route easier. Get a certified copy of the dismissal, then send it with each removal request. Many sites, agencies and newsrooms treat dismissed charges differently, and some state laws require removal in those cases.