Impaired driving trial. Due to an oversight police failed to turn on the in car VICS camera. Therefore, police interactions with the accused at the scene were not recorded.
Held: No s. 24 remedy granted.
Police failure to turn on the camera was “unacceptably negligent.” However, “I am unable to find that the Charter entitles citizens to a recording of all encounters with police whenever recording is reasonably available … A Charter breach arising out a failure to record interactions requires a demonstration of actual prejudice (Bjelland), and actual prejudice only arises where there is a reasonable possibility of the evidence assisting the accused; that is not the case where there is no apparent inconsistency in the available evidence that would be resolved by the recording.”
J. Raworth – Defence Counsel