Police Department Website Undergoes Change
By Celina Avila
EL PASO –Thosefamiliar with the El Paso Police Department’s Web site noticed a significant change in the past fewweeks.Pictures of those recently arrested for prostitutionhad beenposted as a matter of public record, but now those images are no longer on the the site.
Police ChiefRichard Wiles said there were several reasons why he decided to take down the prostitution pictures. One of themost compellingreasons wasthat there weren’t many arrested for the amount of time it took to maintainthe site.
“While prostitution has been a problem in our community in the past,it is not so now,”Wiles said.
Wiles said he wanted the pictures on the web to stress the other serious issues facing our community such asDWI and family violence, crimes hefelt have greater potential for dangerous situations.
Wilessaid the final decision to take the pictures down was based on some research he found where the potential for suicides increased for those arrested for sexual related crimes.
“Quite frankly,I don’t want to be responsible for someone committing suicide for a ClassB misdemeanor. Prostitution in the state of Texas is a relatively minor offense, of course people may have differences of opinion on that but in the state of Texas it is a relatively minor offense,” he said.
Wiles said if the crime becomes an issue in our community such as auto thefts, those pictures will be posted. Hesaid all mug shots are subject to an open records request and can be made public.
