LAPD Long-time Policy Denies Media Access To Booking Photos Of Suspects Charge With Felonies

The Los Angeles Police Department continues to deny media access to mugshots of suspects charged with felonies, unless they are looking for more victims.

By H. Nelson Goodson

March 4, 2014

Los Angeles, CA - Hispanic News Network U.S.A. has learned that the Los Angeles Police Department has a policy that denies media requests for mugshots of those suspects charged with a felony crime, unless they are looking for more victims, according to Andrew Smith, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Commander of Media Relations and Community Affairs. Also, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LACSD) will not release a mugshot of a suspect charged with a felony unless the arresting agency approves the release of the mugshot or booking photo. The LACSD will release a mugshot, if they made the arrest,  but also certain review is taken into consideration to avoid being liable.

The media relations spokesperson for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office (LADA) can't even release a photo, but press releases are made public of suspect arrests and those charged with felony crimes without providing mugshots, according to Greg Risling, Public Information Officer for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

The LAPD, LACSD and the LADA seemed to put liability first than the public interest to see who was actually charged, since a name of suspect has been released for an alleged crime that was committed. Some citizens might believe,  the LAPD does a disservice to the public it serves by not providing an image of a suspect charged for a felony due to liability. The less people get to know of a suspect's appearance (ID) or photo, less victims would ever know he/she was ever arrested for a crime.

The mugshot privacy policy has been in place for years, maybe it's time to modernize their policies and provide a courtesy to media like other law enforcement agencies in the country have by providing images or booking photos to media outlets of those suspects they actually charge with a felony and other crimes. 

In this particular case, the booking photo of Andron Gazarov, 33,  of North Hollywood has not been officially released, but a booking photo of Gazarov was posted by Wirednixon dot com.

Gazarov was arrested last Wednesday and charged with a felony charge for kidnapping, attempted kidnapping and great bodily harm after punching a babysitter and grabbing 4-year-old Grady O'Brien from the babysitter in Westchester, California. Luckily,  Jesus Delgado, a Taco 2 cook heard the screams for help and acted quickly. Delgado managed to catch up with Gazarov and was able to take O'Brien from Gazarov's grip. Delgado held Gazarov until police arrived and arrested him.

Since then, Delgado has been hailed as a hero and a fund was created to help him with his daughter's medical bills. She has a heart condition. Over $22.1K has been raised so far for Delgado.