"Our role here is to seek the truth,"
said South Bend Common Council Vice President Oliver Davis during a press
conference he held Friday Afternoon. He said he's filed a
public records request with the city. He
wants copies of the tapes involved in the federal investigation so the council
can conduct it's own investigation. He
said knowing what's on the tapes can bring some healing to the community. "It's been
literally 10 weeks plus that our city has been held hostage by this situation,"
said Davis
A
Federal investigation was conducted into the recordings made by the South Bend
Police Department. The controversy led to the resignation of then-Chief
Darryl Boykins. Boykins rescinded his resignation a day later and the
mayor demoted him.
Thursday the US Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana sent a letter
saying the investigation into the South Bend Police Department's practice of
recording phone lines is concluded and closed.
In the letter, US Attorney David Capp says the department has carefully
reviewed the matter, and no federal prosecution is warranted.
Now that the investigation is over
and the tapes are being returned to the city Oliver Daivs hopes the mayor will
work with the council and give them what they are asking for so there doesn't
continue to be a rift within the administration. "According to
the Indiana code we have the right to have
this information," said Davis.
But Mayor Pete Buttigieg said that's
not so. The Mayor held his own press
conference Friday afternoon following Davis' "I can't
legally just sit down and listen to them," said Buttigieg. And he said he can't release them for
anyone else to listen to either.
Buttigieg said that would be against federal eavesdropping and electronic
communications laws, along with Indiana Code.
Buttigieg said,
"I'm concerned about what's on these tapes. I want to know and I want the community to
know but it has to be done lawfully." And to be done
lawfully the tapes must leave the city once again. "We are
pursuing a strategy of forwarding these tapes immediately to the civil rights
division of the U.S.
department of justice," said Buttigieg.
He said that department has the authority to listen to the tapes without
violating any laws.
Buttigieg said the city hasn't
received the tapes back from the federal investigation. He couldn't give a timeline for when they'd
be back or when they'd be forwarded to the department of justice.
Friday evening Mayor Buttigieg sent
an email to council members in response to the public records request. In that email he reiterated what he said in
his press conference:
"The letter states that the U.S. Attorney intends to return
the cassette tapes in question to the Legal Department. The tapes have not yet
been handed over. I am very concerned about the alleged content of these
recordings, but we remain seriously limited in our ability to find out what is
on them. We have been advised by legal experts--including the City
Attorney, special counsel, and the original author of the Federal Wiretap Act,
Notre Dame Law Professor Robert Blakey--that listening to the tapes or
disclosing their contents would expose us to criminal and/or civil action
In
order to ensure that these tapes are handled lawfully and that their content is
investigated, we plan to forward the tapes immediately to the Civil Rights
Division of the Department of Justice and request an inquiry into their contents.
"
