Lego tells California police to stop hiding suspects’ faces with toy heads

MURRIETA, Calif. ( KTLA ) — Earlier this month, a Southern California police department made a creative decision to circumvent a new law: Instead of showing suspects’ faces, it would digitally use Lego heads to cover them. While the move drew national attention , it also appears to have caught the attention of the Lego company.

The Murrieta Police Department explained that on Jan. 1, a new law restricted how and when law enforcement agencies in California can share photos and mugshots. Police said images of suspects involved in nonviolent crimes are prohibited from being shared, barring specific circumstances.

The new law also requires that suspect mugshots posted on social media be removed after 14 days unless special circumstances exist.

“At the time of that (bill’s) passing the department had an internal discussion about posting the faces of arrestees in general,” the Murrieta Police stated on a November 2023 Facebook post . The agency opted to stop posting nearly all suspect images citing “the presumption of innocence until proven guilty in a court of law” and “the effects a post could have on an individual or their families outside of the criminal proceedings they may be subject to (public shaming).”

But, in a post earlier this month, Murrieta Police rolled out their Lego edits.

“In order to share what is happening in Murrieta, we chose to cover the faces of suspects [with Lego heads] to protect their identity while still aligning with the new law,” Murrieta Police explained.

Lego has since “respectfully asked” the department to “refrain from using their intellectual property in our social media content, which of course we understand and will comply with,” Lt. Jeremy Durrant told Fox News .

“We are currently exploring other methods to continue publishing our content in a way that is engaging and interesting to our followers,” Durant added.

The Hill reports that a spokesperson for the Lego Group declined to comment.

This isn’t the first time Lego has stepped in about an unfavorable use of its toy. In 2021, the Danish toymaker called on a Utah-based company to remove a pistol made to look as if it was covered with toy building blocks , dubbed the “Block19.”

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