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But, the VPD said, “in some cases, the footage received was poor quality, had poor lighting or was out of focus and shaky… The public sources will be of some evidentiary value, but likely will not cover all events.” The public footage is also difficult to authenticate, police acknowledged in court documents.

A handful of officers were dispatched to film the riot, but most of the material they collected is useless, the VPD acknowledged.

“There was one member of the PSU [public safety unit] that was provided with a video camera and filmed some of the events,” reads a VPD court exhibit. “The video is of very limited use as it does not cover all of the criminal acts that were committed and there was only one member recording video. The video is very shaky and as it went from daylight to darkness, the quality of the video decreased even further.”

Two members of the VPD’s forensic identification unit shot video from a downtown rooftop. Most of their footage “does not show facial features of people that could be used to positively identify suspects,” the same document reads.

The June 15 riot started at the end of the Stanley Cup championship match between the Vancouver Canucks and the Boston Bruins, the winning team. It caused millions of dollars in damage to property in Vancouver’s downtown core and cast a pall over the entire city for weeks.

In late October, the VPD recommended 163 charges against 60 individuals suspected of participating in the riot. Charges ranged from participating in a riot to assault.