In Ontario, under what circumstances can police seize your camera or review the video on it.
Can you refuse?...under what circumstances and what happens if you don't voluntarily hand it over ?
do you get it back? what if there is non biking related private stuff on the camera?? do they have the right to just look at your stuff?
can you be charged for behaviour previously recorded in videos on the camera?
cargo
If police have reasonable and probable grounds (not just suspect) that your camera has evidence of an offense and you are under arrest then they can seize it (so long as the search to recover it was lawful) however they will require a warrant to look at the data within it.
If police have reasonable and probable grounds that the camera contains evidence of an offense and you're not under arrest they can ask you for it and you can refuse at which time they'll need to obtain a warrant if they want it. HOWEVER, if they believe that you'll destroy the evidence or will be a problem to locate (and a couple other obscure reasons) then they can seize the camera to preserve the evidence and will still need that warrant to look at the data within it.
If, once the data has been obtained legally, they discover evidence against you, then yes that could be used against you.
To clear up a few of the replies (that don't directly get cleared by the above);
if you are being arrested or charged with something (dangerous driving included as it`s a criminal code violation??) then anything on you or in your vehicle can be searched without a warrant.
You will be searched for weapons and evidence. The car can be as well however there are limitations such as where is reasonable for whatever evidence is being searched for. It gets situational dependent but as an simple example; if you're under arrest for just having robbed someone then you can expect that your car will get a thorough search for disguises, weapons, etc... used in the offense and the property that was stolen. If you get yourself arrested for being out past a criminal curfew then only the area immediately around you can be searched.
it you refuse and demand they get a warrant, can they detain you?
if you delete the video file before they can get a warrant, can they arrest you for obstruction?
As mentioned; if you're not the subject of the investigation then they could just seize the camera and send you on your way, if the conditions re; destruction and location are present.
If they can prove the evidence was destroyed by you, you could be charged.
Searching INSIDE of anything within the vehicle IS considered unreasonable.
Too vague. Searching inside the box inside the arm rest after the driver is arrested is reasonable, depending on the crime.
Without arresting the individual under the Criminal Code or with having a warrant to specifically seize the video, no police officer, regardless of any argument they make to you, can force you to hand over the video device.
Not true, as already stated.
As for search and seizure - it can be construed that visually searching your vehicle from the exterior (using a flashlight and peering through the windows extensively) is an illigal search.
As mentioned, it's called "plain view" and is legal.
As for being detained, this means as little as being instructed to remain, or even so little as where you cannot leave the area without permission from the officer. If the officer states "you are free to go" or something to that effect, he is acknowledging that he was detaining you. If the officer insists that you stay put, asking him what charge he is laying, and that in order to stop you from leaving at your own will, he will have to arrest and charge you. The officer "Can" charge you with a BS charge, take you downtown, and later release you after withdrawing the charge, but this can be a pain the arse (bike gets towed etc etc), but you will have a lovely case for your civil lawyer against the Police Service.
It largely comes down to how far you are willing to go, and what you want to do. Most Police are well trained in how to threaten incarceration and all that comes with it, to meet their desired result, and we as lemmings, desire just to be left alone, and might compromise our own rights by being "helpful" or "assisting" to the police and volunteering information or property simply to be released from being detained, even if on the side of the road.
Detention is different from arrest. There is lots of case law on this but to give a simple answer to a complex situation, detention allows an officer who believes that a person is involved in crime that has occurred in the area but does not yet have the grounds to arrest can detain that person while further investigation is ongoing (either by that officer or another). A weapon pat down may be available but the officer would have to articulate his reasons for doing it.
