George Thompson, the phone's owner, disputes the department's assertion

FALL RIVER — An iPhone belonging to a man who recorded a police officer cursing on a street construction detail had its memory wiped while the man was in custody at the Fall River Police Department. But the action was “not malicious,” police officials said Friday in response to a report from an outside agency’s examination of the phone.

Ken Bell & Associates, a Rhode Island-based computer forensics company, concluded that an internal security feature, activated when someone types in the wrong password 10 times, erased the iPhone’s contents before it was reset to factory settings on Jan. 8. The factory resetting coincides to the date a Fall River police detective tried to investigate the phone’s contents.

The Ken Bell report does not say who punched in the wrong password 10 times, nor does it mention when the incident occurred. The report says there is “no forensic evidence” as to when the security feature was activated.

Fall River police Chief Daniel S. Racine said in a prepared statement that he had reviewed the report and accepted its findings. He said it was “apparent” that the data wipe was “not malicious.”

George Thompson, the Fall River man who used his iPhone to record the police officer, disagreed with the chief’s conclusion.

“Absolutely this was done maliciously,” Thompson said. “The police tried to gain access to the video in order to delete it. No one had any business going into the phone.”

On Jan. 6, Thompson used his iPhone to record Fall River Officer Thomas Barboza, who Thompson said was yelling and cursing on his cellphone during a work detail outside Thompson’s Locust Street house.

Barboza, in his police report, said Thompson was secretly recording him with a phone hidden under his left hand, but Thompson said he was recording the officer in plain sight the entire time. In Barboza’s report, the officer writes that at one point, Thompson told him, “That’s right, I’m recording you.”

Barboza allegedly ran up to Thompson‘s house, called him a “(expletive) welfare bum” and threatened him. Barboza, according to Thompson, also said: “It’s a federal offense what you’re doing. You can’t videotape me.”

Barboza arrested Thompson on an illegal wiretapping charge, which was dismissed in April because the evidence on the iPhone had been erased in police custody.

Racine said Barboza’s actions were “unprofessional and not at the level we expect and demand.” Barboza received a one-day suspension and a 15-day prohibition from street details.

“The officer has been disciplined, and has admitted his misconduct,” Racine said. “The purpose of discipline is to ensure the inappropriate conduct is not repeated. I am confident the officer accepts responsibility and will not repeat the action.”

The police department, Racine said, also recognizes that it is legal to openly record a police officer or any other person in public. In March, the department issued a new policy that all alleged wiretapping violations will require a supervisor to be involved, and that only in extraordinary circumstances will someone be arrested.

Racine declined to comment further, saying that Thompson has threatened to sue the Fall River Police Department. Thompson, who previously said he plans to conduct his own independent forensic examination, said Friday’s report “was just the beginning.”

“I am irate right now,” Thompson said. “I want to get to the bottom of this case. I want the dirty cop — or cops — reprimanded to the fullest.”