The cop I asked about what happened to the computer said something along the lines that they got it in that desolate state and they had protocols (records) to prove it.
Later I asked my lawyer what to do about this. He told me it was pretty pointless to try and I should see it a 'cost of doing business for living in this great democracy'.
Did not expect this is a country like Germany, all my trips Germany and interactions with Germans have been exceptionally pleasant. I've always had the idea that German government has it's shit together quite well. (Maybe that's just because the public highway rest stops are so nice in comparison to most of europe :P )
I will remember to photograph all my equipment thoroughly (including the latest newspaper in the picture) before I agree to someone taking it... Thanks for sharing!
German goverment pretty much has its sh* together quite well. What has been described here shows how that is: While Germany offers a lot of freedom with "basic rights" (the constitution starts with an enumeration comparable to the Bill of Rights), there is a certain expectancy in the law that the state will not ever fail. There is no good damage compensation for damages done by the state. (We do not have punitive damages anyway here in German law, so expect to get the value of a pair of used glasses when a police officer mistakingly destroys yours.) This is a general line. You don't get much for being in jail when it turns out you've done nothing wrong. There's no "fruit of the poisoned tree" doctrine that forbids the use of proofs in court that were gotten illegally. You get basically nothing for the time that your stuff got seized when it turns out in the end (after 12-15 months typically) that you've done nothing wrong. Please come and pick up your 486 machine, we're done analyzing - otherwise we'll get rid of it (on your expense).
Germany as a state grands you a lot of rights, but expects you to do your share as a citizen - like not becoming a suspect.
Don't bother. They also took my digital camera. And my fax machine. (disclaimer: It was 2004 - nowadays I don't have a fax). :)
The thing is not about if you can prove that something was damaged by the police. The thing is how much time and energy do you want to spend on getting a small compensation for that stuff.
If you want to prove a point: go on but don't think that there will be any consequences for a police officer because of this.
In my case for me it was just not worth it. The PC was pretty old and suing through 3 instances would have taken some years.
I learned from the thing one lesson: Don't run an open wifi network in Germany - because even if you're not guilty the process of a criminal investigation will fuck up your daily routine. (That's also why I don't run TOR nodes even though I think it's an important project.)
