New court date set in ongoing South Bend Police tapes investigation

SOUTH BEND, Ind.-- The wait continues in the ongoing South Bend Police tapes investigation.

This week, st. Joseph Superior Court set another court date for the case.

The 8 years-long back and forth battle is now focused on whether or not the tapes can be released.

The tapes allegedly contain racist rhetoric between South Bend Police officers and the public has been fighting to hear that rhetoric since they were recorded.

September 10th was the deadline for judges to look into whether some of the recordings violated the Federal Wiretap Act.

Instead, St. Joseph County Court filed a declaratory judgement.

That’s when the court defines the legal relationship between the parties to a lawsuit as well as their rights.

This allows the case to move forward without that decision being made.

The recordings were made on a phone line inside South Bend  Police headquarters back in 2011.

An officer moved into an office that had a recorded line without knowing the his calls were being taped.

According to court documents, sometime around January 2011, the former communications director discovered the line was being recorded while troubleshooting the system and informed then Chief Boykins.

Boykins told an employee, Karen Depaepe, to continue the recordings.

That move eventually led to a federal investigation into the department and Chief Boykins demotion.

Both sides are still debating what the exact discovery date of those recordings was and whether they will ever be played in public, with concerns over whether the tapes contain racist rhetoric from SBPD.

A new hearing is now set for November 13 at 2 o'clock.