South Bend police tapes

The South Bend Common Council this week filed a motion to appeal a recent ruling by St. Joseph Superior Judge Jamie Woods finding that recorded phone conversations involving police officers, capturing them saying allegedly racist things, violated privacy laws.

South Bend Common Council President Canneth Lee has called a closed door meeting for Wednesday over whether the council should appeal a judge's ruling in favor of officers in the South Bend Police Tapes Case.

South Bend Common Council President Canneth Lee said he was "disappointed" with St. Joseph Superior Judge Jamie Woods' ruling in favor of the officers in the police tapes case. But on Friday Lee stopped short of calling for an appeal.

After a 14-year legal fight between the South Bend Common Council, city administration and a group of officers, St. Joseph Superior Judge Jamie Woods on Thursday ruled the city must destroy the recordings of officers, some of the allegedly saying racially offensive things, because they were made without the officers' consent, in violation of the Indiana and federal wiretap acts.

The 13-year-old case pits the South Bend Common Council against the city administration, after the city blocked council attempts to hear recorded phone calls where officers allegedly said racist things about then-Police Chief Darryl Boykins, the city's first Black chief.