Frequently Asked Question

I found my name in a police report/blotter that appears in the SoMd.com Headline News. Can I have it removed?

- Maybe, if you meet the following criteria -

Police reports are a matter of public record and all blotters/reports that we publish are essentially reprinted verbatim as received from the reporting agency (except that we may provide minor editing for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and/or brevity). If you believe that the facts as stated are incorrect, please contact the arresting agency and ask them to issue a retraction or correction.

We realize that mistakes are made and innocent people can be accused falsely. Therefore, as a courtesy, we will consider redacting your name from the respective news article if you meet one of the following criteria and provide supporting court documentation.

1) YOU WERE FOUND INNOCENT OF ALL CHARGES IN THE RESPECTIVE CASE

Please note that if you received multiple charges relative to the arrest we are reporting on, you must have been found innocent of all charges, or had the remainder dropped (NOLLE PROSEQUI). If you were found guilt of any of the charges, we can not redact your name from the news article.

2) ALL CHARGES WERE DROPPED IN THE RESPECTIVE CASE (NOLLE PROSEQUI)

Please note that if you received multiple charges relative to the arrest we are reporting on, all of the charges must be dropped (NOLLE PROSEQUI), or you must have been found innocent or not guilty of the remaining charges. If you were found guilt of any of the charges, we can not redact your name from the news article.

3) THE COURT AGREED TO EXPUNGE ALL ARREST RECORDS IN THE CASE

While somd.com is under no legal obligation to honor an expungement order, since the information was released into the public domain, we will however take the court's wisdom into consideration.

To request we redact your name, please send an email to support @ somd.com along with the following support documentation:

1. A copy of the news article, or the URL, from SoMd.com that contains the arrest information so we are able to locate the applicable document.
2. Copy of official court documentation that substantiates your not guilty or NOLLE PROSEQUI disposition for all charges, and/or the order of expungement.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

1) Please do not telephone us to make your request or request a status update. We will only handle these matters via email. If you contact us via phone, we will simply refer you to this page.

2) Please do not contact us on behalf of a third party, unless the third party is a minor and you are their legal guardian. We will not respond to requests to remove information for another person. The person named in the arrest report must contact us.

3) Please note that we will only redact your name, age and city of residence from the news article and add an explanation for the change. We will not remove the remainder of the information regarding the arrest, nor will we remove the entire article.

4) Please note that somd.com has no control over how long search engines, such as Google and Yahoo, will maintain a cache of the news article as it appeared before your information was redacted. News articles that once appeared on somd.com may also be archived on other sites, such as archive.org, or in private databases over which we have no control. Please do not ask us to intervene with a search engine or other third party company.

1. Policy Updated 15-OCT-2013. We will now consider honoring a court's order of expungement.
2. Policy Updated 25-NOV-2020: Simplified. Clarification on third party sites.

Shortcut to this page: so.md/expungeme