VIC Police took my personal items off record

[Brendan H]

Hi, I just wanted some legal advice on a situation i was in with police.. I got a few charges for small amount of possession of drugs and possesion of stolen goods that i was pulled over and arrested for... But when they went through my car, They broke some of my panels in my car and They also on top then took 3 mobile phones from me and a tablet and they did not put it in the summary of stuff they took, The phones arnt written on anything..
I have evidence of a samsung tracking app, that places one of my phones at the police station after i was arrested and placed in custody, It clearly shows on a google map the location is at the police station...

There not stolen at all.. 2 where old phones, the phone i was using and The tablet i have purchased in the past outright.. None of them stolen at all.. Are they allowed to do this or do i have a chance of getting them back?.. Do i have any rights? These phones mean alot too me to get back, As i have photos of family in them that i cant get again... any advice would be great on what to do next... Thank you..

 

[Bill Murray]

Probably seized.

Ask them.

 

[Brendan H]

Probably seized.

Ask them.

My question was are they allowed to do that?. Not putting down in the items in the summary and just taking them?.. Can they get in any kind of trouble for doing that?

 

[Tim W]

My question was are they allowed to do that?.

If they reasonably suspect (as no doubt they do) that those phones were, or might have been, used in an offence, then yes.
Reality be, most people only carry one phone at a time, unless they're in the drug trade.

 

[Bill Murray]

Sure, they'll get told not to do it again. They probably forgot. I've written out a property receipt before, received another item of property and neglected to add it.

But if it's been lodged on the Police side of things then it's not something that's going to prevent them from using them as evidence.

If they had reasonable suspicion to search then they can break your panels if they suspect drugs are behind them. I wouldn't be surprised if that's where the drugs were located.

Like Tim W said, multiple phones is usually a sign of trafficking. Multiple (especially more than 2) working phones would almost be enough to form reasonable suspicion without anything else. I would want more but I reckon other units would run with it and succeed.