Three Strikes: Why the feds won't release mug shots

Earlier this week, a bunch of members of the Hell’s Lovers motorcycle gang in Denver got cuffed. Felisa Cardona had the details on their federal charges. 9News intrepid investigative reporter/social media junkie Jace Larson was on scene during the bust. There was an ATF “tactical” dog with a video camera on its back. It was a whole cops-and-robbers to-do. The only thing it was missing were the mugshots of the 19 busted gang members. This, to us crime-news lovers, was not a small thing, given that biker gang mugshots typically arrive with awesome results. So what gives? It’s the feds; they don’t give. While local law enforcement agencies routinely hand out mugshots of suspects — this doozy, for instance, arrived with a press release yesterday announcing the arrest — federal law enforcement agencies almost never do, even when the suspect looks like this. (Though the suspect in that picture was charged in federal court, we have credited his mugshot to Glendale police.)