Media taking mug shots — foreign, familiar — to bank

Newspaper, magazines, Web sites and a few book publishers are tapping into a curious American fascination: mug shots. Publications like Local MugSHOTS run nothing but photos of recent arrestees in a community.

You don’t have to commit a violent crime; you don’t have to be convicted; you don’t even have to be a celebrity (though for some publications, it helps).

Just get arrested — no charge is too small — and your mug could grace the pages of a local magazine or Web site.

Check it out here.