It was a not a bit frustrating to issue the press release below, whose headline was the headline of this posting. The BCCLA worked hard to try to recover the alleged video from Adam’s cell phone, and in the process realized that the state of technology for data recovery from cell phones could generously be described as, ahem, primitive.

Beyond the issues listed in the press release, this situation underlines the challenges of our front line work. As a lawyer at the Department of Justice, on accepting my job at Pivot, I was taken aside by a senior lawyer who advised me: “Never trust anyone.” He was suggesting that, as an advocate, and a lawyer, that I take my clients’ versions of events with a grain of salt and not invest personal credibility in something they told me happened. It was generally good advice, if a bit cynical.

At the BCCLA, at some point, we need to place some trust in the people who come forward with what might, at first glance, appear to be outrageous allegations. “I was taken to Stanley Park and beaten up by six police officers,” or “I was put in a bunny suit and made to pose for trophy photographs by police officers in the jail,” and “I was beaten up and robbed by three off duty police officers who told me not to call 911 because they were the police,” are all examples of events, validated by video, photographs or police witnesses, that might otherwise have been ignored or dismissed as too bizarre to be true.

What are we to do with allegations not supported by these kinds of incontrovertible evidence? Allegations that have the ring of truth, that are consistent with other concerns we have heard from other people?

The BCCLA’s role is to vet complaints as best we can and take them forward to the public when necessary to raise broader issues of public policy. While, unfortunately, we may never know conclusively whether or not Adam’s video ever existed, we were able to change VPD policy on handling cameras in the possession of the media or the public, giving the BCCLA yet another reason to trust again when someone comes forward asking for help.

Incidentally, members and supporters may be interested to know that the actual cash cost of the recovery effort was paid for by two media outlets.

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Two months of effort by three different data recovery companies to recover an allegedly deleted cell phone video of a police shooting has ended in a frustratingly inconclusive result for the BC Civil Liberties Association. The data recovery companies have not been able to recover any part of the video or even say, one way or another, whether the video ever existed.

On March 20, 2009, Michael Hubbard was shot and killed by police after being mistaken for a petty thief. Adam Smolcic, a bystander who says he filmed the incident on his cell phone, claims that shortly thereafter a VPD officer confiscated his phone and deleted the video he had just taken.

In the end, the BCCLA did not have the resources to initiate further attempts to recover Mr. Smolcic’s video.  The next level of data recovery that involves disassembling the phone would cost thousands of dollars.  Neverthelles, there is still opportunity for transparency and openness, and the BCCLA called on the VPD and Abbotsford Police who is investigating the shooting to release surveillance video of the shooting to the public, or at the very least to the family of Mr. Hubbard.

Last month, VPD Chief Jim Chu wrote a memo to all VPD officers and civilian staff in which he suggested that security camera footage showed Hubbard advancing on the officers. Some early witness accounts suggested Hubbard was standing still when police opened fire.

Mr. Smolcic’s allegation, coupled with an allegation made by a Vancouver Province photographer, caused the VPD to change their policy on seizing cameras from members of the public and the media.

The BCCLA will be returning the cell phone to Mr. Smolcic. The total cost of the data recovery effort was slightly in excess of $750 USD. The BCCLA’s data recovery attempts were greatly assisted by Simon Feay of Aceon Data Recovery, a Vancouver-based data recovery firm.

Tags: BCCLA Police Complaints, Death In Custody, VPD

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