Canadian judge chides RCMP for destroying evidence.

• Position: GOVERNMENT RECORDS - Royal Canadian Mounted Police - Brief article

A Canadian judge slammed the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) for not understanding its obligations to preserve and disclose evidence.

Clifford Toth concluded that the police destroyed video evidence that could have been used in a drinking and driving case and chided them for using old technology to retain evidence. Toth decided the case against the driver should not proceed.

The case involved a driver who was stopped by Lumsden RCMP in June 2009 on suspicion of impaired driving. The accused underwent a breath test at a police station. The station has a video system that records the breath-testing room and cells, according to the ruling.

After the man was charged, his lawyer asked Crown prosecutors for copies of the video. However, while the Crown sent some case related documents to the lawyer, the video was not included, CBC News reported.

According to court records, the June 27 videos were deleted from the RCMP's system on August 21, 55 days after they were recorded, "in keeping with detachment policy."

"Given the Crown's obligation to preserve evidence and the fact that the defense drew the Crown's attention to the video in question, failure to secure the videos ... constitutes unacceptable negligence," Toth wrote.

But the judge didn't stop there. He also criticized RCMP detachments throughout Saskatchewan and their policies on digital video evidence, according to CBC News. Toth noted that the police should update its...