Las Vegas police no longer releasing booking photos amid court ruling

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Las Vegas Metro police will no longer release booking photos of pretrial detainees after a court’s ruling, changing how media agencies identify arrestees across southern Nevada.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals determined disseminating a pretrial detainee’s photo was unconstitutional. The ruling came after a man sued Maricopa County, Arizona, for posting his booking photo online and keeping it on a searchable website even though the man was never prosecuted.

Las Vegas Metro police release booking photos as part of records requests, which media agencies, including 8 News Now, file daily. The department releases the photos, arrest reports, and other law enforcement documents through these requests unless the department deems the information should be withheld per “law enforcement privilege.” Metro rarely releases a photo without a request, except in high-profile cases when a news release is disseminated to the public.

“The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is prevented from disseminating booking photos at this time,” a department spokesperson said. “This is due to a recent court ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals… where the court held that the dissemination of a pretrial detainees’ booking photo to the public is generally unconstitutional.”

“The court’s decision prevents the dissemination of the booking photo(s) you are seeking in this case at this time,” a response to a records request from the 8 News Now Investigators said Thursday.

Each police agency and court in southern Nevada interprets the records law differently — for instance, some justice courts will release arrest reports, while others defer to police. In general, law enforcement documents, like arrest reports, are deemed public and releasable through the court system.

The man who sued Maricopa County argued his rights were violated when the county posted his name, birthday and other personal information alongside his photo — a practice that does not happen in Clark County.

LVMPD does not have a searchable “mugshot lookup” website like the one mentioned in the Maricopa County lawsuit. Metro, which runs the county jail, does have a system to search for inmates, but no photo or other identifiable information is provided other than a detainee’s name, age and the charges they face.

In its ruling, the court determined releasing the man’s photo and keeping it online was a violation of his due process and constitutional rights.

“The state may not punish pretrial detainees without an adjudication of guilt,” the ruling said. “[The man] plausibly pleaded a substantive due process claim against the county based on pretrial punishment. We therefore reverse the district court’s dismissal. We affirm that court’s dismissal of [his] procedural due process and Sixth Amendment claims.”

It was unclear Thursday if the court’s ruling would change Nevada’s courtroom policy, which allows media agencies to cover pre-trial court hearings. The coverage of the hearings themselves would inherently identify a detainee by showing their face.

Henderson police too said it was determining how the ruling would affect releasing photos of pretrial detainees, though the department had not outwardly said it was changing its policy yet. Henderson, which runs its own jail, would provide booking photos as well.

It was unclear if Maricopa County would seek to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

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