I’ve taken a torn personal check in, it wasn’t shredded by any means, and it wasn’t honored.
I can deposit checks by the camera on my phone or scanner, I’m asked to keep them several days, and then shred them. They will not accept obviously damaged checks either in person or with those methods.
The credit union I was with before this bank started holding all non-payroll checks for 3–5 business days (even money orders) to verify them.
I only mention both because things have changed some with banks losing money due to bad checks and people moving away from them in general. I would guess @DrBill‘s experience was a while ago, but perhaps he can clarify.
I mentioned they have no way of verifying who shredded it because if I issue a new check to a vendor, and shred their old check, I assume the shredded check would no longer be honored regardless of who’s holding it.
It seems like a reasonable assumption that a bank should not honor a check that was obviously intentionally destroyed. As a similar example, you can buy shredded US currency by the pound, or request some straight from the source.