SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Recorded phone conversations at the South Bend Police Department have been part of an ongoing legal battle, ever since the South Bend Common Council tried to have the tapes released to the public more than a decade ago. 

The questions being litigated: were the tapes recorded legally, and can they be released to the public?

Now, a bench trial is scheduled Tuesday, Dec. 9, in a court fight which started in 2012. 

Before trial, let's rewind, to give you the whole story from the beginning. 

Cassette tapes are at the center of the years-long South Bend court battle, containing recordings of conversations between South Bend police officers. The content of the conversations is unknown, but it's alleged they include racist comments. This caused concern and conjecture to run rampant through the city.

"People were saying, we need to know what's on the tapes. We need to know what's on the tapes," said then-Common Council Vice President, Oliver Davis.  

"People really wanted to get into the thick of it because you said racism and police," said then-Common Councilmember, Henry Davis Jr.  

"The line was being recorded without the consent of anybody who was party to the conversation," said Dan Pfeifer, attorney for the intervenors in this case.     

It was March 2012, when then-Common Councilmember Davis got a phone call with the news South Bend Police Chief Darryl Boykins, the city's first Black police chief, was fired.  

"He said that the chief had been fired," Davis said. "So, I called Mayor [Pete] Buttigieg, and I said, 'I'm getting word that the chief has been fired.' And he said, 'Well, I guess the cat's out of the bag.' Those were his exact words."

Davis said he never got a reason from Buttigieg on why he was firing Boykins. Buttigieg would later say he lost trust in the chief because his actions prompted a federal investigation.

It was discovered the central issue was the existence of cassette tapes with copies made of phone line 6031 at the South Bend Police station.

"It became talk at the barber shops and then in churches and in places. 'What's on these tapes?' Because you have to consider, in 2012, there were a lot of challenges between police and local communities all over the country."

More than 20 percent of South Bend's population is Black, and Davis says at the time, with the Trayvon Martin shooting fresh on everyone's minds, he felt suspicious of the entire situation.

"Since it was such an uproar about the chief being fired," Davis said. "Since he was the first African American chief, and it was even more than that; he was just a good chief. He was just a good chief."

"'There's tapes with some racist discussion, language on it with high-ranking police officials were having. They were caught on tapes.' It's more than tapes now, it's conversation now about racial divisiveness within our judicial/legal system," said Davis Jr., also on Common Council in 2012.  

He said the truth was as unclear then as it is now. 

"Now it's more of a rumor mill, a gossiping situation, rather than something that's clear or factual, right?"  Davis said.

In March of 2012, Boykins was out-- forced to resign as chief of police.

"'Why did you give [your] resignation?'" Davis recounted. "His words to me were, 'I didn't think anybody was going to fight for me.' And I turned to him, and I looked at him, and I said, 'You didn't give us a chance.' And I saw tears coming down his eyes. I'd never seen that before."  

ABC57 reported in 2012 that Boykins tried to rescind his resignation and was instead demoted to captain at SBPD.  

As an elected leader of South Bend's local government, Oliver Davis pleaded for the release of the tapes.

"I was the first one to ask for the tapes to be subpoenaed on ABC57," he said.

That subpoena kicked off the legal battle still unfolding today. 

"The legal fees are mounting up," Davis Jr. said. "The people deserve to hear it, what's going on, because they paid for it."  

At least $2 million in taxpayer dollars have already been spent on the ongoing litigation, according to a city spokesperson.   

At the same time in 2012, Davis Jr. tried another avenue for answers, saying the political climate in South Bend was turbulent.  

"So, it's really active, right? The atmosphere is violent. I can say it was quite violent, and so you don't know what to say or what to do, so you are trying to find your footing in this kind of conversation," he said. "What I did, because it was just so loud, I wrote a letter to the Department of Justice from my Common Council office. I asked for a third-party investigation, because there was so much unclarity, again, so many people choosing seats in corners of the room, and all I wanted was some clarity." 

The DOJ declined to do what he asked and did not investigate the matter.   

"Then, I got sued by then-commander Tim Corbett and those who raised their hands and said that, 'Hey, we're on the tapes, and we're going to sue the city, because you guys are wiretapping, and that is not what you're supposed to be doing.' So, I was sued in open court for writing a letter from my district office to the Department of Justice. Insane," Davis Jr. said. "I won the lawsuit, but it took several years to get there, right? Lot of pain in between, right? So, this is the story." 

Eventually, Davis Jr. won the defamation case filed against him in 2019.  

Back to the Common Council's subpoena, let's rewind some more to uncover how the tapes were made in the first place.

"I felt I was a scapegoat," said Karen DePaepe, then-Communications Director for SBPD. She would end up being fired for her role in the scandal. 

A new trial brief filed this month says it all started in 2005, when the officer with line 6031 asked for it to be recorded to monitor any threatening phone calls targeted at officers. 

That officer eventually gets promoted and moves offices. Apparently forgotten, line 6031 is still recording. Fast-forward to 2010, and SBPD Officer Brian Young is promoted and takes the office with line 6031, supposedly unaware his line is recording. 

In late 2010 through early 2011 DePaepe was troubleshooting issues on the department's phone recording system. That's when she recognizes captain young’s voice on line 6031.

In her wrongful termination lawsuit, she said she heard high-ranking officers "describing conduct that DePaepe felt was possibly illegal or at least unethical."   

She also claims she heard racial slurs.

Here she is again in a 2012 interview with ABC57: "I knew that I would be persecuted if I even brought this forth. And so, I struggled with it. Do I keep my mouth shut and just let it go? I just felt that many, many individuals would be affected if I didn't."  

DePaepe reported what she heard to Chief Boykins, who then directed her to make copies of some of those conversations. But Mayor Pete fired DePaepe the same time he demoted Boykins. 

The City of South Bend ultimately settled DePaepe's lawsuit, paying her $235,000.

After the Common Council approved a subpoena of the tapes, several white police officers file into the case to block that subpoena, known as the "Intervenors," represented by attorney Dan Pfeifer.

"Even though Indiana is a one-consent state, nobody consented to the recording of this line," Pfeifer said.  

The intervenors have a different version of events.  

They allege in their initial lawsuit that Boykins instructed DePaepe to "tap" the line of Division Chief Steve Richmond in early 2010.

Depaepe disputes this claim in her lawsuit, saying Boykins never made changes to the recording system at SBPD.

Now, in their latest trial brief, the intervenors just accuse Boykins of "deliberately” allowing the phone tap to continue after DePaepe’s discovery of Young on line 6031. 

Pfeifer's trial brief states, “...They actively allowed the nonconsensual recordings to continue and monitored them for their own personal motives."

The intervenors allege Boykins then confronted Richmond, calling him a backstabber and disloyal. That's how, they claim, they first learned line 6031 was being recorded, and copied, without their consent.

The intervenors complained to the U.S. Attorney's Office in late January 2012, saying they are victims of illegal wiretaps.

"The South Bend Police Department was recording a personal line assigned to an officer that did not know the line was being recorded," Pfeifer said.  

It's reported a discreet FBI investigation took place as a result, leading to a May 31, 2012, letter from U.S. Attorney David Capp, finding no reason to pursue charges on Chief Boykins or Communications Director DePaepe. 

Many read that and believe it exonerates Boykins and DePaepe of any wrongdoing. 

Others had a different read. 

"The failure to prosecute is an issue that is completely unrelated to what this case is about," Pfeifer said.   

Then-Mayor Buttigieg had his take; he said he had a mandate to make changes at SBPD. He doubled-down on his decision to fire DePaepe and demote Boykins. 

During his presidential campaign, in a 2019 CNN town hall, Buttigieg was asked about the South Bend police tapes scandal.

"What are on the secret tapes regarding the demotions of South Bend's Black police chief, Darryl Boykins," someone in the audience asked. "The answer is: I don't know," Buttigieg replied. "And the reason that I don't know is that these tape recordings were made in a way that may have violated the Federal Wiretap Act..."  

"He was really putting him down," Davis said. "That was my frustration."  

Boykins sued the city, Mayor Buttigieg, and his chief of staff in 2013 for defamation and racially discriminatory conduct.

The city settled this case and paid Boykins $75,000. However, at the same time, the city also paid $500,000 to the intervenors in a settlement of their lawsuit.

"We didn't make that decision, that came from the administrator's decision and legal team to pay the police and to do that," Davis said, "and when they were getting paid, people were like, 'Why are these police officers getting paid?'"

Between DePaepe, Boykins, and the intervenors, the city paid up $810,000 settlement dollars in total.

Fast-forward to March 2018, another three intervenors were granted to join the case, further delaying a legal resolution.

"No monetary damages are being sought," Pfeifer said. "Just a judicial determination."  

Meanwhile, the mystery of what is on the tapes continues to frustrate and fascinate.

"I have no clue why the Common Council continues to persist in this action," Pfeifer said.

Davis Jr. recounted an interaction he says he had with Boykins years ago. 

"I asked him straight up, you know, 'What is this about? What's on those tapes?' He told me. He looked me right my face, and he told me, 'Henry, if these tapes are ever played, or when they get played, there will be people getting out of prison, and there will be people going to prison.' That's what he told me, straight up," he said. "What I'm getting, obviously, is speculation, rumor, some of it's factual and true."

Remember, the content of the cassettes is not what's on trial, but rather how the cassettes were created.

"You're saying that those aren't the questions to be asked. Your question is, were the tapes even obtained legally?" ABC57's Annie Kate asked Pfeifer. "That is the question," he replied. "The substance of what is on the tapes has never been an issue because what is on the tapes begs the question: if the tapes were obtained, if the recording of the line, was in violation of the law, then nothing is on the line can be disseminated."  

The court battle was continued again and again, with trials scheduled and cancelled over the years.

"I didn't have much gray then. Now I'm gray," Davis said.    

Nearly 14 years after the south bend police tapes scandal, the matter is once again set to go to a bench trial.

"I pray to god that it does, because this community needs some resolution," said Davis Jr. "It needs some healing as well."

"I'm looking forward to some type of resolve," Davis said. "Now, many of the players are gone, moved past, or gray-haired now."  

With no closure, Boykins died in December 2024, a distressing development for Davis and Davis Jr. 

"No, he didn't receive justice. He was treated unfairly," said Davis Jr. "And unfortunately, he was captured in a very, very bad light. And he did not deserve that. He didn't."

"I never called him anything else but chief," Davis said.    

All those following the case are waiting on bated breath for an answer to the central questions of this case: What are on those recorded phone calls? Were the recordings obtained legally, and can they be released to the public? 

"If you are to win the case, then the idea is these tapes are never publicly released to protect those officers, correct?" ABC57's Annie Kate asked Pfeifer, to which he replied, "Tapes and any recording of the line, both."  

Before 2026 rolls around, it's possible South Bend could get an answer. 

"Closure, I think, is still needed for the community," Oliver Davis said.  

 A bench trial is set for Dec. 9-11, and ABC57 will be there to cover it.