SHAWNEE, Kan. — In the age of the Internet, one mistake can live with you forever.
That may now be especially true for people who live in Johnson County thanks to a new local website.
It’s called Blabbermouth and it’s a local website started by a Shawnee man who says his mission is to deter crime and inform the public about what’s really going on next door.
The hangup, your pretty mug lands on the website, guilty or not, and it will cost you a pretty penny to get it taken down.
It’s a simple, bare bones website that post mugshots of those arrested in Johnson County. Site creator Matthew Creed says it’s a community service.
“The whole purpose of doing this is to try to get people to think about their future actions with it,” he said.
You can search by name, charges, street or city and the site brings up profiles of all the people arrested near your search.
“I think that, truly, people want to know about the types of people living next door to them and living just around them in their community,” Creed said.
But guilty or not, in order to have your profile taken down, it will cost you between $49.00 and $199.00.
“The purpose of the charge is to deter people who are actually guilty of their crimes from bringing their information off the site. That’s the reason why it’s there,” said Creed.
Creed admits he’s been arrested for a DUI and he even features his own mugshot on the site. He says a site like this, more than likely, would have stopped him from committing his crime.
“There are good intentions behind this site. I’m not out to publicly humiliate anybody,” he said.
How bad can this potentially damage one’s future job prospects? According to a 2010 survey by Cross-Tab Market Research, 70 percent of recruiters and HR Professionals said they have rejected job candidates based on information they found online.
The website can be could at www.blabbermouthkc.com.
