The South Bend Common Council has decided to appeal a court’s ruling that the South Bend police tapes must be destroyed because they were made in violation of privacy laws.
The council made no public announcement, but court records show they filed their intention to appeal Tuesday. That was just within 30 days of a May 28 ruling by St. Joseph Superior Judge Jamie Woods, finding that recordings of officer conversations without their knowledge violated state and federal wiretapping laws.
The case started in 2012 when the council sued the Mayor Pete Buttigieg administration. The council wanted to know why Buttigieg had demoted Chief Darryl Boykins, the city’s first Black chief, but the administration refused to turn over the tapes.
Buttigieg later revealed that he fired Boykins, who died in 2024, because he’d lost trust in him for failing to tell him that the FBI was investigating some officers for alleged racial comments. Some of those comments allegedly were captured on these tapes. A group of officers joined the administration as defendants to block the tapes’ release.
While some in the community feel it’s time to move on, Council President Canneth Lee had said he favored appealing Woods’ ruling because so many people in the community still want to hear the tapes.
