[tlb]

Deleting data according to a pre-defined schedule (often 90 days) is legitimate and standard. It's good that agencies do this, to limit exposure due to data breaches. And it's normal for courts to issue a preservation order for specific data relevant to a potential case.

It'd be better if the courts could actually deal with the case now instead of in 1-5 years, but alas.

[Jtsummers]

> (often 90 days)

Not for government agencies. Data retention generally goes much longer than that, usually measured in years or decades, not days or weeks.

[tlb]

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/poli... has a list of police body cam retention policies. 90 days is pretty common, though it ranges from 30 days to 5 years.

Documents are kept longer. But a court needs to think about the shortest possible retention time that any agency might have for any kind of evidence.