Q. Why aren’t all arrest photos published in the Mugshots section of starnewsonline.com? Aren’t they all public record?
A. Information about an arrest, including the booking photos taken at the jail, are considered a public record.
The StarNewsOnline Mug Shots site automatically gathers the booking photos of those taken into law enforcement custody every 2-3 hours via an electronic feed from the New Hanover County Jail. The vast majority of people who are arrested show up on the site. There are, however, rare occasions when someone is arrested and a booking photo is not taken or when a person is booked and then released within that two-hour timeframe. When that happens, the system may not pick up those photos, and they do not appear on the site.
Any photos that are published there remain online for a maximum of 90 days.
Date posted: March 27, 2012
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