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Re: Destruction of notes and data
Posted by:
firecop5002 (IP Logged)
Date: February 17, 2007 12:51AM
I like many police officers were trained in the early days (Well early days for me) to destroy all field notes. The rule was if you destroyed notes on any case destroy them on all cases. When I first started in the business of investigating fires I carried that with me for a time. I have now found that many judges and jurors don't particularly like this practice. It has the appearance of hiding something. It allows an attorney to make much to do of really nothing. For the last ten years or so I have kept my field notes in my working file on all fires and if an attorney wants them all he has do is ask. I have yet to be questioned about anything in my field notes in court. I don't however propose to judge someone who destroys theirs.
Dave