A bill limiting the exploitation of arrest photos that died in the Florida senate in May 2015 has been revived. Florida senator Darren Soto a Democrat and senator Maria Lorts Sachs have re-introduced a bill that seeks to limit the attempt to collect fees for removal of arrest and or booking photos in the state of Florida. The senators represent the Florida counties of Orange, Polk, Osceola, Palm Beach, and Broward. These would also be known as Districts 34 and 14.
The committee references of the bills include Criminal Justice, Judiciary, and the Rules Committee. These democrats are looking to discourage the dissemination of booking photos via publicly accessible mediums such as websites and print then soliciting a fee for removal.
These are two Florida senators that all voters should consider supporting in upcoming elections as they have attempted to eliminate the blackmail practice of publishing a mugshot only for the solicitation of a fee for its removal.
An excerpt of the bill is as follows:
“A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to arrest booking photographs; 3 creating s. 119.17, F.S.; defining terms; prohibiting 4 a person who publishes or disseminates an arrest 5 booking photograph through a publicly accessible print 6 or electronic medium from soliciting or accepting 7 payment of a fee or other consideration to remove, 8 correct, or modify such photograph; authorizing an 9 action to enjoin publication or dissemination of an 10 arrest booking photograph if the publisher or 11 disseminator unlawfully solicits or accepts a fee or 12 other consideration to remove, correct, or modify such 13 photograph; specifying the time period during which an 14 arrest booking photograph must be removed pursuant to 15 court order; providing a civil penalty; providing for 16 reasonable attorney fees and costs; requiring the 17 court to terminate an injunction under certain 18 circumstances; providing applicability; providing an 19 effective date. 20 21 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 22 23 Section 1. Section 119.17, Florida Statutes,”
You can read it in it’s entirety HERE.
Check out our Do It Yourself Mugshot Guide Here
Updated 2/3/2023
Alex Adekola is a proven thought leader in the reputation management industry who has targeted mugshot publishers since 2012. He is the longest-serving reputation and crisis management strategist and has written extensively on crisis management. He is the creator and director of strategy at Incept Technologies.