@DentonPolice: An unofficial Denton arrests twitter for Denton, Texas that captures in near real time booking information, as it is posted by the Denton Police Department to the City Jail Custody Report web page (here is where the old no longer working page was located). Once captured, the information is re-posted to Twitter using TwitPic.
Denton Police Department: Make mug shots available on request instead of putting all of them online
The project is meant to help draw attention to how much public information we put online, and the dangers of doing so. Consider the following quote.
Where the photograph is taken of a prisoner who is subsequently discharged upon trial, the photograph and the records ought to be destroyed; because, if the man is innocent, there is no reason why his picture and measurements and pedigree and the crime with which he was charged should be open to the public gaze. The Rouges’ Gallery is a public record. The man has committed no crime, for a jury of his peers have said so. In my opinion, it ought to be made a misdemeanor for the Police Department to photograph or measure a man merely charged with a crime. That ought to be done only after he is convicted, and should form part of the records in the Police Department of convicted criminals.
- Hon. Alfred E. Ommen, New York City Magistrate, c. 1905
For a more in depth insight in to the thought process and goals of the project, see the accompanying paper: Ethical Criticism - Mug Shots
A browsable history of the information is available on the Denton Police TwitPic page.
The program is open source and is available on the GitHub bwbaugh/dentonpolice project page.