Investigation
Allegation of Police Video Deletion
Date Published: 2017-07-27
Province: Nova Scotia
Police Agency: Halifax Regional Police
Summary
On April 27, 2017, at approximately 1:40a.m., two males, Affected Person 1(AP1) and Affected Person 2 (AP2) were arrested by members of the Halifax Regional Police (HRP). The stated reason for the arrests was being intoxicated in a public place. They were arrested outside of Cheers Bar and Grill (Cheers) on Grafton Street in Halifax. During the arrest of AP2, AP1claims he took a brief video of the arrest on his phone. The following week he made a complaint to HRP that the video had been erased by police after he was arrested. HRP contacted SiRT to report the matter on May 4, 2017. An allegation that a police officer may have eliminated possible evidence of a contentious interaction with the public is a serious one, and meets SiRT’s mandate to investigate matters of significant public interest. Therefore, SiRT assumed responsibility for the investigation into AP1’s complaint at that time. The investigation was completed on July 6, 2017. During the investigation, SiRT did the fol…