BREATH SAMPLE RECORDING - GENERALLY
Sunday, January 27, 2013 at 5:54PM In jurisdictions where breath samples are recorded, preserve breath sample recordings before they get destroyed. A system should be put in place to ensure the recordings are preserved and retrievable upon request. The leading 1997 Supreme Court of Canada case of R. v. Vu and La reminded police about the importance of preserving relevant evidence:
The deliberate destruction of material by the police or other officers of the Crown for the purpose of defeating the Crown’s obligation to disclose the material will, typically, fall into this category [of abuse of process]. An abuse of process, however, is not limited to conduct of officers of the Crown which proceeds from an improper motive … In some cases an unacceptable degree of negligent conduct may suffice.