As in most states including Florida, the photograph customarily taken after an arrest is often referred to as a mugshot. A mugshot is a public record. Every person has the right to inspect or copy any public record made or received in connection with the official business of any public body, officer, or employee of the state, or persons acting on their behalf. FLA. CONST. art. I, s. 24.
Most county (Including Flagler County, Putnam County) and municipal law enforcement agencies post the mug shot photographs on their websites. Many data mining companies will scour the public records in Florida and post the arrest booking photographs on their private websites. Publishing these photographs on the internet can cause many problems to the person even if they are later exonerated of the charges. Many employers will conduct an internet search of a potential employee.
Unfortunately, the search engines, including Google, Bing, and Yahoo, often return the mug shot photo published by the data mining company as one of the top results. Private mug shot websites often keep these photographs online even if the person was found not guilty or the charges were dropped. Some of these companies will remove the photograph and mug shot from their website for a fee which can be very expensive. The company will often remove the photo from one website but then add it to its sister websites.