How To Find Past Mugshots for Free

May 9, 2025

In this article, learn how to find past mugshots for free, along with how to remove arrest records and protect your online reputation.

Do you know what type of information about you is online? If you’ve had run-ins with law enforcement agencies, it’s likely that your public arrest records are available online for anyone to find. With just your first and last name, anyone can Google you and find all sorts of court records. That includes detailed information about your criminal history.

Moreover, other types of personal information are accessible online, like your property records, employment history, relatives’ names and so much more.

If you want to protect your online reputation, it’s important to find public arrest records associated with your name and take steps to either remove the information from the internet or bury it in search results.

Our mugshot removal services will remove your online arrest records and mugshot images fast. Contact us today at 866-601-6803 to learn more.

Mugshot Websites May Already Have Your Information

When anyone with an internet connection can access criminal records, your personal and professional life can be impacted. Here are just some of the ways that having your information accessible on a mugshot website can affect your life:

Harm to Your Online Reputation

When your arrest records and mugshots are easily viewable online, potential or current business partners, clients, or employers will make judgments about your character. The same goes for those you meet socially, like a person you’ve connected with on a dating site. This could harm your reputation and lead to missed opportunities.

Avast found that 50% of all online dating users search for someone they meet online. Moreover, 30% of people who use online dating services and Google someone they meet online either find something objectionable or find nothing at all and opt not to meet up in person.

Difficulty Securing Employment

It’s common for potential employers to conduct background checks on those they’re considering hiring. If your mugshot and arrest records are part of the public record, they’re bound to show up in a background search — or even a basic Google search. Chances are that the employer will not opt to hire you if they find your criminal records.

Unwanted Legal Attention

Having your private information and arrest records show up on mugshot websites could attract attention from law enforcement that you’d prefer to avoid. For example, imagine that you’re dealing with a legal issue that’s unrelated to a past offense. You could suffer from extra scrutiny due to having arrest records online that are found during the process.

Why Is It So Easy To Find Personal Info in an Online Database?

Looking up mugshots online is almost always successful because most local law enforcement agencies are required to post police reports and arrest records online for the public to access. Here are just a few of the ways that your information can end up on Google:

• Articles in a local newspaper that offer arrest details
• Law enforcement agencies post arresting information to their public database
• A disgruntled friend or ex shares your private info on social media

Once your personal information appears online, arrest record databases can easily categorize your information. Then, those databases make it easy for anyone to search for criminal records on a national or international level. Moreover, if a person is willing to pay the website’s fee, they may be able to access even more details about an individual.

How To Find Mugshots Online

Whether you want to find your own mugshots online or you’re researching someone else, there are many reasons why you may want to find data on a convicted offender or access someone’s arrest records.

There are numerous tools that can help you find someone’s old mugshot or arrest records online quickly. These solutions help when researching an offender’s background details or looking to erase arrest records for yourself.

Being able to view mugshots online also comes in handy when trying to find information about an offender who’s being transferred between facilities.

If you’re looking for someone’s mugshots online, you’ll need basic information about the individual to begin the search. For most free mugshot publication websites, you’ll need the person’s full name and the state where the arrest occurred. Then, after finding their listing on the website or sex offender registry, you’ll see information about their charges, bond amount, etc.

Another benefit of doing an internet search is discovering more info about a jail, including the regulations and rules that need to be observed if you’re considering visiting. Public records databases and sites operated by local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies are all good sources for criminal record information, including jail and prison info, along with inmate records.

Online Databases Are the Easiest Way to Find Criminal Info

If you’re simply looking for information about an individual’s charges, it will be pretty easy to access criminal records online. You won’t even have to leave your couch to do it. You won’t need much more than a basic search to acquire court conviction records online, along with the location of the facility the person was sent to.

By using online searches, you won’t have to physically visit law enforcement agencies to get arrest information and mugshots. Other helpful bits of information found on these sites include the offender’s date of incarceration, pending fees, and their expected discharge date. 

To find your past arrest records and mugshots online and remove them from online searches, contact Erase Mugshots today for a free analysis.

How To Find Past Mugshots For Free: Past vs. Present

In the past, finding mugshots and arrest records required visiting a local law enforcement agency (like a police department or county sheriff’s offices) or a court clerk to request the criminal record.

Today, you don’t have to leave your home at all. Finding free mugshots and arrest information, or learning how to find people’s mugshots on the internet, is as easy as performing a simple Google search or using a basic people search website.

After working in the mugshot removal and online reputation industry for over a decade, our team has perfected how to locate both state and county records before eliminating them from the front pages of Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Contact us today by calling 866-601-6803 for a free consultation.

Using Google To Find Arrest Records For Free

Today, all you need to find arrest records and mugshots online is a device with an internet connection.

Using your iPhone or computer, head to Google and type in the following: [first name] [last name] + arrest.

For example, your search may look something like this: John Doe + arrest. Or, if you’re specifically looking for a mugshot, you could search for John Doe + mugshot.

It’s more difficult to find arrest records, criminal records and mugshots if the person has a common name. However, adding more details to refine the search, like a middle initial, city or town, or date of arrest, can help narrow down the results.

Some people search sites will let you refine your search in these ways using filters. But if you’re using Google first, you could search for something like this: John Doe New York, NY + arrest.

Try different types of searches until you find what you’re looking for or until you determine that arrest records for that person don’t exist.

Organizing the Results

Once you have located a few websites featuring the arrest information you’re after, create a spreadsheet to record all of the information. This will be especially helpful if you intend to request the removal of your information from these sites. 

Whatever you do, don’t continue to search for your name online and click the same links over and over. This signals to Google that the information is popular, which can cause it to rank higher in search results. You could inadvertently cause the information you want to hide to show up more prominently in searches for your name.

Once you’re finished building your spreadsheet and are ready to contact each website, start by seeing if the website has a removal process. If it does, follow the steps exactly as required. If the site doesn’t have a removal process, contact the support team or website owner directly. In the event that contact information isn’t listed on the website, you may be able to find it using website registration data lookup tools like ICANN. 

It’s important to understand that this process can be time-consuming and frustrating, as these websites are not legally obligated to remove your mugshots or arrest records from their databases.

If the task of submitting multiple removal requests is too overwhelming, contact us today for a free removal analysis and to discuss your options.

Is Publishing Free Mugshots Online Legal?

Unfortunately, yes. No law prevents a website from publishing arrest information, including arrest records and booking photos. This allows anyone online to view mugshots of you. 

Most mugshot websites are broken down by county or city records. This makes it easier for people to research anyone who’s been through the system. Most employers will utilize these websites during the hiring process, too. 

The truth is that it’s hard to dispute the fact that you were arrested after your potential employer has seen your mugshots, even if the information is outdated or incorrect.

Why do employers use mugshot sites to research potential hires? Because it’s a free and quick way to get results about an individual’s past, such as criminal record information, without having to wait for a background check to clear. Yes, most of these websites have disclaimers that the records published should not be used during the hiring process. However, it’s still a common practice among employers.

Contact Erase Mugshots to Protect Your Online Reputation

Removing your mugshots online can help protect your reputation. It will also prevent you from missing out on opportunities.

First impressions are important. If a potential employer or dating prospect Googles your name, they could see your mugshot in the top search results. At that point, there may be no way to convince them not to judge you on what they found.

Managing your business and personal relationships hinges on knowing the information that people can find online about you. Furthermore, taking control over your online data can protect your privacy and the privacy of your loved ones.

In some cases, you won’t be able to remove your sensitive information online. For example, law enforcement agencies won’t remove your mugshot or arrest information simply because you ask. In that case, you’ll need content suppression services so your private information doesn’t show up prominently in search results.

Do you need immediate assistance removing your arrest records and other sensitive information from online databases? Contact Erase Mugshots today.

Free Mugshot Removal Analysis