Blocking out their identity! California police department shares photos of potential criminals with Lego pieces on their heads as new social media rules prevent law agencies from showing suspects faces online

A California police department has raised eyebrows after replacing suspects' faces with Lego heads. 

The Murrieta Police Department has taken to sharing hilariously edited images of alleged criminals on its Instagram, including some from the very moment they were placed in cuffs. 

In a post shared Monday, the department explained that a new California law from January 1 prohibits them from sharing suspect photos and mugshots for non-violent crimes - forcing their media team to get creative. 

But while the law passed at the start of the year, Murrieta PD has been covering suspects' faces with everything from emojis to Shrek for several years as it prioritizes the presumption of innocence. 

The Murrieta Police Department in California has taken to sharing hilariously edited images of alleged criminals on its Instagram 

The department explained that they are mandated by California law from sharing suspect photos and mugshots for non-violent crimes - which has forced their media team to get creative 

In a recent post, the cops shared this snap of a thief who was caught after detectives traced him with a stolen iPhone that he forgot to turn off 

Murrieta PD often includes humorous captions when it shares a Lego suspect mugshot, including a recent image where they said officers won a game of 'hide and seek' with a thief.

'Fortunately for the officers, they were able to use GPS to locate the suspect,' the cops added, saying the suspect - with a sad bearded Lego for a head - was tracked down using the victims' stolen iPhone that he forgot to turn off. 

In another, they replaced a suspect with a Shrek face because he had been 'acting like an ogre' in a Target store by attempting to steal almost $2,000 of items. 

While praising their detective skills, many had taken to the comments in the myriad posts to question why they swap out the heads, leading to Monday's explainer. 

'Why the covered faces?' they began. 

'On January 1st, a new law went into effect that restricts the how and when law enforcement agencies in California share suspect photos & mugshots.'

The department said that the new law, Assembly Bill 994 & Penal Code 13665, prevents them from sharing suspect images for nonviolent crimes - unless specified circumstances exist. 

They added that the new law requires agencies to remove suspect mugshots from social media after 14 days, unless special circumstances exist.

'The Murrieta Police Department prides itself in its transparency with the community, but also honors everyone's rights & protections as afforded by law; even suspects,' the post concluded. 

'In order to share what is happening in Murrieta, we chose to cover the faces of suspects to protect their identity while still aligning with the new law.' 

Murrieta PD said this suspect had acted 'like an ogre' in a Target store by attempting to steal almost $2,000 of items 

The mocking edits have split opinions, with some feeling they are a fun way around the law and 'the Lego faces look better anyways' 

Some critics argued that it only serves to help law breakers, and it 'seems there are more laws protecting the criminals than law abiding citizens' 

The Lego mugshots split opinions, with some feeling they are a fun way around the law while others questioned if they were appropriate and only served to help law breakers. 

One local commented that the 'Lego faces kill me lmao', and another felt that the 'Lego faces are better anyways.' 

'Not everyone who is arrested is guilty, and someday it might be you,' added another proponent.  

However, some took offense to the editing skills and argued that it only works to protect criminals. 

'Who makes up these laws?' questioned one. 'Jeez, seems there are more laws protecting the criminals than law abiding citizens.'

Another critic said it was 'another L for California', questioning: 'Why does our legislation spend so much time and effort protecting criminals? It's so backwards.' 

Although the department said it was mandated by the January 1 law, they clarified in a November post that the decision came after they decided to prioritize the presumption of innocence for those arrested. 

'The department had an internal discussion about posting the faces of arrestees in general. After weighing a lot of factors the department ultimately decided to generally not post the faces of arrestees,' they said.

'There are circumstances that arise that do necessitate or warrant the posting of an arrestees face but the dept decided those would be the exceptions and not the rule.' 

The post also cited potential humiliation of the suspects' families by being shared on social media, and a general risk aversion to sharing the images. 

'Our goal is to keep our citizens informed on what is occurring in the City in which we all live as well as the work the police department is doing on behalf of the citizens,' they concluded.