Lego forces California police department to stop using toy heads to mask the ... trends now
A California police department which sparked hilarity by using superimposed Lego heads to protect the identities of captured suspects has been asked to stop by the toy manufacturer.
The Murrieta Police Department had been editing the images onto suspects' pictures after a new law prohibited them from sharing suspect photos and mugshots for non-violent crimes.
But toy company failed to see the funny side, and the department is going to have to find some other way of complying with the law in its Instagram posts.
'The Lego Group reached out to us and respectfully asked us to refrain from using their intellectual property in our social media content which of course we understand and will comply with,' the department said in a statement on Sunday.
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 had been 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
