Judge rules South Bend police violated Federal Wiretap Act

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) - A federal judge has ruled the South Bend Police Department violated the Federal Wiretap Act by continuing to record telephone conversations after learning a captain's telephone line was being inadvertently taped.

But U.S. District Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen ruled Wednesday that recordings made before the police department discovered the wrong line was being recorded do not violate the Wiretap Act because nobody intended to record the captain's line. Court document show the line was recorded when the captain moved into the former office of a division chief who had asked for his own line to be recorded.

The city had asked Van Bokkelen to determine whether the recordings had violated the Federal Wiretap Act. Parties from all sides of the case have taken pieces of the split decision as a victory, the South Bend Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/1u9M97f ). But it is still unclear whether the public will hear parts of the tapes that have cost taxpayers about $1.6 million in attorney fees and to settle three lawsuits and led to then-Police Chief Darryl Boykins being demoted.

Van Bokkelen wrote that there might still be some other federal, state or local law preventing the release of the tapes, but that issue goes beyond the scope of his ruling.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg said at a Wednesday evening news conference that he is aware of eight tapes that fall under the judge's ruling. He said seven of those tapes were recorded after Feb. 4, 2011, and cannot be released. He said one other was recorded on that date and it is unclear whether releasing it would violate any laws.

"Our attorneys will be reviewing this to confirm how it can be lawfully and promptly turned over to the council," Buttigieg said.

Dan Pfeifer, an attorney for four officers involved, said he doesn't believe there is much material on the tapes dated before Feb. 4, 2011.

Court documents said Boykins continued to have the captain's line taped after the department's communications director told him that it was being recorded and "there were some disturbing conversations recorded on that line." The communication director then gave Boykins the eight tapes that were recorded over a five-month span in 2011.

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Information from: South Bend Tribune, http://www.southbendtribune.com