In Canada, a provincial court of appeal has ruled that police may search the smartphone of an accused person only if the phone is not password protected. Otherwise, the police must obtain a search warrant.
A robbery case in Canada provides a good example of the rule made by the court. Read on to find out more.
The robbery took place in Toronto's Downsview neighbourhood, where two men robbed a woman and got away with jewellery worth thousands of dollars.
The police arrested Junior Chapman and Kevin Fearon for the robbery. Sgt Steve Hicks gained access to photos and text messages stored on the robbers' mobile phones. On a phone, Sgt Hicks found a photo of the gun the robber had used to frighten the woman, as well as a message related to the robbery.
Fearon's lawyer argued that the Toronto Police had abused their power in retrieving photos and text messages from Fearon's cell phone. He said the police should have obtained a search warrant before examining the accused's cell phone.
The jury rejected the argument, saying the officers had acted within their powers and had not misused the contents of the smartphone.