For nearly a year, the UCLA Police Department has maintained the mobile phones of 40 UCLA students who were arrested at a massive demonstration at the war in Gaza last year.
Without a mobile phone, students faced extreme difficulties, according to lawyers from the National Lawyers Guild. At least one student lost her job when her employer couldn’t reach her, a student journalist at Daily Bruin said it made it difficult to report the newspaper and one student missed a shift in an internship. Some students had a hard time keeping in touch with their families, lawyers said.
On Monday, the university’s police department said it would return the phone to the student.
Deputy Police Chief Scott Scheffler wrote in an email to the era that the decision came from Atty, Los Angeles. Last week, the announcement of Hydee Fieldstein Soto announced that it had not filed charges against most UCLA and USC students arrested in April and May 2024.
“As of this morning, the phones are no longer retained as evidence,” writes Schaeffler. “Individuals who have not yet received their mobile phone will be notified and can book with our real estate units to do so.”
However, students only take two weeks from the date they receive written notice from the department to get a call before it is destroyed, said Cynthia Anderson Barker, lawyer for the Attorney Guild.
That’s the timeline she says she’s unfair to many students who don’t live in Los Angeles. She requested that the lawyer be allowed to collect calls on behalf of the student.
She said students must bring their ID and show proof that they own the phone. Also, if someone else wants to pick up the device, you will need a notarized letter.
The police department holds more than 3,000 items of evidence, and according to the department’s website, it has found that property and property are held for storage. In general, items stored as evidence are kept until the case is complete.
Santa Ana-based criminal defense attorney Sabrina Darwish said she and Anderson Barker began requesting calls from the police station after more than 40 students were arrested in UCLA’s parking lot on May 6th.
The lawsuit remained open, but no criminal charges were filed against the student.
In July, Darwish filed a motion with Los Angeles Superior Court to force the department to return the property. However, the claim has been denied due to the search warrant obtained, claiming that the phone was used to commit a felony and is part of an ongoing investigation.
Two months after the court hearing, Anderson Barker wrote to Feldstein Soto to ask students to return Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and UCLA interim prime minister Darnell Hunt. Feldstein Soto’s office responded four days later, saying it had been decided to announce the property to the UCLA Police Department.
Orange County criminal defense attorney Hieu Vu said it is common for law enforcement to maintain key evidence in criminal cases for many years.
“A search warrant can justify holding property temporarily, but it does not allow for indefinite ownership,” he said. “A year’s hold where search warrants sound unusually long.”
The lawyers attorneys’ guild said they were frustrated trying to get the phone back to the students.
“We’ve never had that many pushbacks in both careers,” Darwish said. “They made it unnecessary.”
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