Kansas City mayor wants KCPD to stop publishing mugshots. Police say they don’t do that
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas filed legislation Thursday asking police not to publish suspects’ mugshots unless they might help solve a crime or locate a fugitive.
But the Kansas City Police Department says it already doesn’t do that.
Lucas has pushed for several criminal justice reforms this year, including eliminating municipal penalties for marijuana possession in the city, pardoning marijuana offenders and eliminating criminal punishments for unpaid parking tickets.
This latest move follows several other cities, including San Francisco, which have argued that mugshots perpetuate racial stereotypes. Lucas said mugshots often continue to haunt people, even if they are found not guilty.
“It creates this lasting scarlet letter on not just their records, of course, but in many situations, their image,” Lucas said. “It is incredibly disproportionate that you’ve seen, particularly people of color that have dealt with the negative impacts of mugshots being pulled up against them sometime later in life.”
Lucas introduced the legislation ahead of Thursday’s City Council meeting, the last of 2020.
In an email, Jake Becchina, a spokesman for KCPD, said the department already doesn’t publish mugshots. When they are requested and are part of a public arrest record, they are provided, he said.
“We release/produce them in accordance with a public records request according to the sunshine law.”
The department provides them upon request via email, saying it does not need a formal sunshine request.
The Missouri Sunshine Law does not dictate that requests be made in any particular format.
Later in the day, Becchina said the department had been in contact with Lucas’ office.
“We look forward to seeing this resolution progress through the legislative process and will remain open to the possibilities while still following the laws that are in place,” he said.
The Star’s parent company, McClatchy, announced this summer that it would stop publishing mugshots unless approved by an editor in cases where there is an urgent threat to the community or the person pictured is a public official, suspect in a hate crime or high-profile crime or a suspected serial killer.
“Publishing mugshots of arrestees has been shown to have lasting effects on both the people photographed and marginalized communities,” the policy states. “The permanence of the internet can mean those arrested but not convicted of a crime have the photograph attached to their names forever.”
In a statement, Lucas said the resolution continues a discussion began by The Star and KSHB-TV, which also stopped airing many mugshots. That question, he said, is: “When is sharing mugshots necessary?”
“We believe, less often than is currently practiced,” Lucas said. “Our view remains that releasing mugshots of individuals who are already in police custody does not actually assist with policing or crime-solving, and airing these mugshots normalizes seeing Black men on television labeled as criminals — perpetuating harmful stereotypes that have held Black and brown members of our community back for generations.”
“These stereotypes only work to feed the cycle of crime, not break it.”
This story was originally published December 17, 2020 at 3:12 PM.
