We're learning more about exactly what was improper about the recording of phone call at the South Bend Police Department, a controversy that ultimately cost the top cop his position.
It's been two months since former police chief Darryl Boykins was demoted.
Monday, Mayor Pete Buttigieg told Common Council members his office learned in late January that an investigation involving phone recordings was going on.
It wasn't until the end of March, that he was told why it was happening.
Buttigieg says the investigation by the Federal Government found the police department wasn't in compliance with the wiretapping law because phone lines other than 911 and dispatch were being recorded without the proper knowledge of either person on the line.
Buttigieg says on March 30th, the recording of those lines were stopped, and won't resume until further notice and only if they can find a way to properly inform parties on the line that they're being recorded.
911 and dispatch calls will continue to be recorded.
The mayor says action didn't happen until March 30th, because his office simply didn't know the details of the investigation.
"That was when it became clear what the scope of the problem was and that was when the instruction went out to the IT department. All we knew up until that point was there was an investigation concerning phones," says Buttigieg.
Meantime, questions swirl about what exactly is on those tapes.
It's believed by some there were derogatory comments made about the police chief.
The Rainbow Push organization has gotten involved pressing the Justice Department to release information about what's on the tapes.
The mayor says he hasn't heard back from the justice department about whether that will happen.
Also Monday, South Bend Common Council members Henry Davis Jr. and Tim Scott sent out a memo asking for a special prosecutor to take on an investigation regarding threats within the police department.
Davis and Scott say they've been informed a police officer says he was threatened by the commander of St. Joseph County Metro Homicide Unit, Tim Corbett.
Council members believe it would be a conflict of interest for the County Prosecutor to handle the investigation.
In a statement, Prosecutor Michael Dvorak says his office is conducting an internal investigation into the authenticity of the officer's report and the allegations. Dvorak's statement also says the officer did not file a report of a crime with the office.
FOX 28 called Corbett Monday. He told us he didn't have anything to say.
