RIGHT TO KNOW ACT-MUGSHOT

Mezzacappa v. Northampton Cnty., 2025 Pa. LEXIS 606 (Pa. Super. Ct., decided April 25, 2025)
CHIEF JUSTICE TODD
In these related appeals, we consider, inter alia, whether a mug shot is an “identifiable description” under the Criminal History Record Information Act (“CHRIA” or the “Act”), such that, consistent with the provisions of CHRIA, it may be disseminated to individuals only by a police department. For the reasons that follow, we conclude that a mugshot is an “identifiable description” under CHRIA, and, thus, may be disseminated to individuals only by a police department.
On November 7, 2020, Appellee Tricia Mezzacappa submitted to Northampton County (“County”) a request (“First Request”) under the Right-to-Know Law (“RTKL”), seeking the “mug shots” of two individuals allegedly detained at the Northampton County Prison (“Prison”). The County denied the request on December 15, 2020, advising Appellee by e-mail that the mug shots were exempt from disclosure under Section 67.708(b)(16) of the RTKL because they relate to criminal investigations. The County further advised Appellee that the mug shots were exempt from disclosure under the RTKL because they constitute confidential criminal history record information under CHRIA. “Criminal history record information” is defined in CHRIA as: “[i]nformation collected by criminal justice agencies concerning individuals, and arising from the initiation of a criminal proceeding, consisting of identifiable descriptions, dates and notations of arrests, indictments, informations or other formal criminal charges and any dispositions arising therefrom.”Pa.C.S. § 9102. On December 28, 2020, Appellee appealed the denial of her First Request to the Office of Open Records (“OOR”), which directed the County to provide Appellee with the mug shots. Meanwhile, on the same date that she appealed the denial of her First Request, Appellee filed a second request (“Second Request”) under the RTKL, seeking, inter alia, the last names of correctional officers who worked on the Prison unit where she was incarcerated between October 13 and October 15, 2020, as well as “all mugshots taken of all inmates at the jail from October 2020 to present, including all inmates released on bail.”