The Honolulu Police Department suspended yesterday a pilot program that put the names and mug shots of drunken-driving suspects on a Web page once a week.

“;It was an administrative decision to conduct a review at this time,”; said HPD spokeswoman Michelle Yu, who issued a written announcement about the suspension. She emphasized it is a pilot project and, as such, must be reviewed. “;During this (review) period, HPD will not be posting arrest photos,”; the news release said.

The program, run by the Traffic Division to deter drunken driving, was intended to run six months, beginning the day before Thanksgiving, but had run less than four months. DUI suspects' photos and names were posted every Wednesday for 24 hours on a Web page titled “;Oahu's Drunk Drivers”; that was linked from the HPD Web site, then were taken down.

Critics said the practice was unconstitutional and would infringe on a person's right to a fair trial.

Laurie Temple, staff attorney for the ACLU of Hawaii, said, “;As a privacy advocate, the ACLU is concerned about the Web publication of DUI photos — innocent people are sometimes arrested, and photos posted on the Web are likely to be around forever, even if the intention is to only post them for a short time. Unfortunately, the ACLU's concern has proven to be valid now that social networking site users are re-posting the arrest photos.”;

HPD officials were aware of private Web sites posting the photos of DUI suspects indefinitely, but Yu said this was not the reason for this action.

“;We have received both positive and negative comments,”; she said.

A Facebook fan page called “;DUI Wednesdays,”; had the DUI mug shots posted indefinitely. The suspension of the project was lamented by fans, who as of yesterday evening numbered 10,731.

The fan page's co-creator said she and her sister started it to make friends aware of the danger of drinking and driving. When she was younger, a 15-year-old friend died in a car crash caused by her boyfriend, who was drinking and driving.

She asked to remain anonymous because she knows people whose photos she has posted.

“;It's not for publicity,”; she said. “;It's for awareness. What really shocks me is how many repeat offenders you see on there.”;

She was surprised by the response from the online community and felt it was making a difference because people were saying they did not want to be on the Web site.

“;If we just help one person change their ways, then that's all that matters,”; she said.

She said some have contacted her about removing their photos, but that opposes the Web page's policy of awareness.

She said she does not believe she is tampering with privacy laws because the information is already publicly available through law enforcement.

Jennifer Dotson, executive director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving-Hawaii chapter, said, “;Just because the Web site is not going to be up on Wednesdays and the mug shots up, it doesn't mean police will not arrest people for DUIs and conduct DUI checkpoints.”;

Dotson said HPD had informed her “;they were going to temporarily review the Web site”; but did not give any reasons why.