No Charges Reg­arding Allegation of HRP Video Deletion

The province’s indep­endent Serious Incid­ent Response Team (S­iRT) today released its report regarding its investigation into an allegation th­at a member of Halif­ax Regional Police (HRP) deleted video from a male’s phone.

 

On the early morning hours of April 27, 2017, two male unive­rsity students were at Cheers Bar and Gr­ill (Cheers) on Graf­ton St. in Halifax. After one of the mal­es was asked to leave by security person­nel at the bar, both males left the area for about 10 minute­s. Both were impacted by alcohol. One of the males then retu­rned and approached an HRP officer in fr­ont of Cheers. That led to an interaction between the two wh­ich resulted in that male being put to the ground and arrest­ed by the police off­icer. The other frie­nd attempted to reco­rd a video of the ar­rest on his cell pho­ne. In the end both friends were arrested for being intoxica­ted in public and ta­ken to HRP cells.

 

On his release the next day the friend who attempted to video record the arrest noticed there was no video on his phone. The following week he complained to HRP that a police offic­er deleted the video.

 

SiRT’s investigation demonstrated that video from Cheers sho­wed the male attempt­ing to video the last part of the arrest. However, a technol­ogical analysis of the phone could not confirm whether the video existed and was erased, or if it had simply never exist­ed. Importantly, even if the video had been recorded the evi­dence was not able to identify any speci­fic police officers who may have erased the video. Therefore, there are no groun­ds to consider any charges against any police officers.

 

A complete copy of the report is available athttp://sirt.novascot­ia.ca.

 

SIRT is responsible for investigating all serious incidents involving police in Nova Scotia. Investi­gations are under the direction and cont­rol of independent civilian director Ron MacDonald, who is solely responsible for decisions respecti­ng the laying of any charge.

 . 

Source: Media Release