How do any of the phones described here qualify as “evidence” by any objective definition?
You can destroy your phone and erase your computer hard drive today, and you aren’t breaking any laws. It’s only a problem if you do this after you’ve received a warrant or subpoena to turn them over in a legal proceeding.
I believe that these phones are government issue and government property for conducting the peoples’ business. As such, they and their contents and the work product they represent, are all the property of the people. Just as the files in your cabinet belong to your employer. Destroying them is clearly an effort to evade accountability and prevent oversight. Speaking as a paperhanger with over 30 years experience, I think they are prosecutable.