Police raids

[Brian Beesley]

On Friday 28 February 2003 16:16, Peter Fairbrother wrote:

> The Police should be required to copy DVD's, CD's and hard drives, and give
> the copies to the suspect, _before_ they are allowed to remove media, if
> the suspect asks them to.

Right.
>
> If that's too much hassle, then they should be required to provide copies
> as requested within two working days of the search.

No. They should be only permitted to make copies on the suspect's premises, 
in the presence of the suspect or his representative (normally - if the 
suspect has "done a runner" then this condition could be waived under the 
terms of a specific warrant), and should be under strict time limit; I think 
one hour downtime per system is more than sufficient.
>
> Even if the suspect has to pay for the copies. The price could include
> Police time and equipment if needed.

Why should a suspect have to pay for police time & equipment? That's a 
penalty in itself ... Anyway, in the event that a suspect is convicted of a 
"normal" crime, costs are restricted to the costs involved in the court case, 
not the costs of the investigation. Which are open-ended and under no 
realistic constraint.

Brian Beesley