New Canaan & Darien Police can’t help themselves lately. They continue to release arrest reports and mug shots of New Canaan and Darien arrests to the local online media, who then plaster it on their websites, tweet out the arrest stories, and even send the arrest reports by email blast as “breaking news” stories.
Why do Connecticut police departments feel obligated to share this private information of arrest reports and mug shots with these online rags? It’s the law, they will say, and they’re right about that. The Freedom of Information Act (called “FOIA”) requires them to make these records available to the press.
But here’s what these police departments aren’t telling you: this release of information, and the subsequent humiliation to your child and family can actually be avoided…
Many of the top criminal lawyers and attorneys in Darien and New Canaan Connecticut have frequently seen police use their discretion in not hauling teenagers down to the police station to be formally “booked”—that is, to be fingerprinted, photographed and processed at the police station.
The best Darien criminal lawyers know that regardless of whether of not you’re “booked” or just given a summons, you’re still considered arrested.
You see, Darien & New Canaan Police can simply hand you a “Misdemeanor Summons & Complaint” ticket for your misdemeanor charges, like Disorderly Conduct, Evading Responsibility, and Social Hosting / Failure to Halt Possession of Alcohol by a Minor Ticket under CGS 30-89a. These tickets formally summon you to court for your criminal court appearance in Stamford Superior Court to answer your misdemeanor charge.
And I’ve seen some of the more compassionate New Canaan & Darien Police Officers actually follow this practice—they issue these Connecticut Misdemeanor Summons & Complaint tickets to offenders, often 21 years old and under, whose careers and job prospects would be severely crippled by the publication of their arrests online and in Google searches.
The top Darien Connecticut criminal lawyers and attorneys get this question all the time. The problem is that once you’re formally booked, fingerprinted and photographed at headquarters, there’s not much that can be done. In fact, calling the local newspapers only tips them off to the arrest and increases the chances of having your arrest reported online.
But here’s what you CAN do:
You’d be surprised to learn that asking for this courtesy may result in avoiding having your mug shot and arrest reports permanently on the internet.
Since 2010, the Mark Sherman Law Firm’s team of internet scrubbing attorneys have been game-changers and Connecticut leaders in this emerging area of internet scrubbing law.
Our Firm filed a prospective class action on behalf of every Connecticut criminal defendant who had their case dismissed but who could not convince online news websites to take their arrests and mug shots offline. So we sued the media companies, and took them all the way to the United States Supreme Court.
While our suit ended there, many Connecticut websites are now backing down when the Mark Sherman Law Firm threatens a libel claim, especially in light of the legal costs that they know they will face when going against our firm.
So if you’ve been arrested in Darien or New Canaan, and need to get your arrest, or your teenager’s arrest offline and off Google searches, contact an internet scrubbing lawyer at Mark Sherman Law Today. While no law firm can ever guarantee removal, our Firm can guarantee that we’re one of the most experienced law firms in this cutting edge area of law. You can read success stories from our former internet scrubbing clients on the certified Avvo.com lawyer review website. Then give us a call at (203) 358-4700 to get started.
