Last week Oklahoma City police arrested 16 men, ranging in age from 20 to 61, as part of a four-day undercover operation at a gay beat at Lake Hefner public park. The men’s mugshots and full names were then published online by The Oklahoman, one of the state’s major news outlets.

“What police can do is try to maintain an atmosphere that will deter this kind of activity,” police Sgt. Jennifer Wardlow told The Oklahoman. “We are pro-active in our approach in trying to eliminate this. We want [families] to be able to go there … and not have to worry about this kind of activity. We are pleased to be able to take these individuals off the streets.”

Master Sgt. Gary Knight defended the undercover action, saying that sending uniformed officers to patrol the park deters activity while the officer is present, but it doesn’t solve the problem.

“When we go in an undercover capacity, we are much more likely to identify who is engaging in lewd acts, and we can make an arrest,” said Knight said.

One can assume that the men who were arrested either don’t identify as gay, or are closeted for any number of reasons. Therefore, one can only imagine the damage caused by publishing their mugshots. So far, The Oklahoman has declined to comment.

According to CNN, publishing mugshots online is becoming more popular in the US. John Watson, associate professor of journalism at American University in Washington, told them that mug shots make good newspaper fodder for three reasons: they are generally cheap or free to obtain, readers enjoy them, and they’re “legally safe” to publish, meaning you can’t be sued for printing what is essentially a government document.