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Guides
Guides: getting a mugshot or arrest record off the internet
Step-by-step guides for the situations we see most: charges dropped but the photo is still up, an expunged record still on Google, a county that can pull the booking photo at the source, and the removal request letter that works state by state.
- Charges dropped, but the mugshot is still online
This is the most common situation we see, and it is the one where the law is most likely to be on your side.
- Expunged, and still on Google
An expungement order binds courts and agencies. It does not reach a private website that copied the record before the order existed.
- The mugshot removal request, state by state
Most valid claims fail on procedure, not on merit. The statutes specify how the request must be delivered and what it must contain, and a request sent the wrong way never starts the clock.
- Start at the source: getting the county to pull your booking photo
Almost every removal service chases the copies. The county that published the record first is usually the cheaper target, and since 2024 it has also been the one under legal pressure.
- What Google removes for free, and what it will not
Google will remove your phone number, home address, email and government ID numbers from search results at no cost, through a tool more than 10 million people have used.
- Will Google remove a mugshot?
Sometimes, under one specific policy, and only if the site holding it charges money for removal.
More ways in
Costs · Site-by-site · Platforms · By profession · By state · Mugshot law by state · All pages
