Mugshots....should you smile or not?

One of my jobs in the morning is pulling all of the arrests from the past 24 hours and deciding which cases we want to take and mailing letters to those who were recently arrested.  Mondays are really tough days for us because a lot of people get arrested over the weekend.  Yesterday there were close to 200 arrests in just Cobb County.  This makes me think three things.  Number 1, I think about all of the people who DIDN'T get caught.  Number 2, I realize that this is only in one county.  Number 3, I am so clueless and naïve.

 I stare at these faces every morning and I can't figure out whether it's better to smile or frown or look stupid or mean. 

 

The Smiler-What kind of person smiles in a mugshot?

The first thing I think is what anyone would think...."What are you smiling about?  You just got arrested for possession of narcotics."  However, I wonder if it says something about you to go in there and keep your chin up.  Maybe you're a positive person, a cheerleader, a real go-getter!  Or maybe you're just a smartass, you're crazy, or you're still happy from the bowl you just smoked.  These crack me up.  If you think about it though, this picture will be around longer than your yearbook picture, so I mean, I guess you should make it a good one.  Personally, I love to see people posing for a mugshot.  It's entertaining.