Page 18 - November 2017 Magazine

Avoid personal cell phone usage
Cell phones have become such an integral part of our lives. We cannot imagine our lives without them. How many can go longer than a few minutes without checking a text, an email, a Twitter feed or a Facebook account? Peo- ple are easily tempted to whip out a fancy iPhone and snap a photo to share with others, or save. To complicate the issue,
many use personal cell phones while
at work, which may lead to unforeseen consequences.
fendant), it is not often that third party witnesses are com- pelled to do the same.
Initially, on Aug. 12, Judge Lee’s order to preserve re- quired “that the following documents and other tangible things, currently in the possession and/or within the con-
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trol of the City of Chicago, will be preserved for the pen- dency of this matter.”
Remember, all data, once captured on a smart phone, will remain on the hard drive (or in the cloud) indefinitely, even if inadvertently deleted. The Lodge re- minds all its members to be cautious in this digital age of electronic overload. Here is one reason why:
Recently, after the fatal shooting of Paul O’Neal, his mother Tanisha Gibson (within days) filed a Section 1983 lawsuit in federal court seeking monetary compensation from her son’s death on July 28. In essence, she alleged that various Police Officers used excessive force while per- forming their duties. As part of the litigation, the plaintiff’s attorney quickly moved the court to “preserve” certain ev- idence while the case proceeded, even before formal dis- covery had begun. Although it is not unusual for litigators to obtain court orders preserving evidence from parties specifically involved in a lawsuit (either a plaintiff or a de-
Commanders so that those units on the scene can be notified of the need to preserve their personal cell phones and any communications on their phones are to be preserved for 60 days from the date of the entry of this order so that (the plaintiff’s) counsel may make arrange-
ments regarding inspection or imaging.”
Shortly thereafter, the Unit Commanders notified all
relevant personnel of the need to comply with the preser- vation order. However, the parties to the litigation did not take any subsequent steps until the 60-day period was set to expire.
On Oct. 6, the plaintiff filed a motion with the court to modify the preservation order. Specifically, the parties could not agree on how to image (or copy) the electron- ic data contained on the cell phones. The City’s attorney filed a written response to the motion and objected to the
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Item 17 sought: “all cell phones of any Police Of- ficer on the scene from the date of the incident, issued by the City of Chicago, with all stored infor- mation intact. The City is to notify in writing Unit
18 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ NOVEMBER 2016