Secret tapes linger on Buttigieg's meteoric rise

Pete ButtigiegPeter (Pete) Paul Buttigieg Democratic proposals to reform health care: introduction to 2020, Buttigieg criticizes the constituency for canceling the popular vote "twice in my life" Buttigieg calls for "a new US spring" in launching the campaignThe dazzling ascent of his presidential candidate highlights his years as mayor of South Bend, Ind., Including his demotion to a chief of the African-American police.

An Indiana judge will soon decide to release five cassettes of secretly recorded conversations between South Bend police officers, which led to the demotion of Chief of Police Darryl Boykins in 2012, the first-ever black police chief. from the city.

The South Bend City Council has assigned Buttigieg to the press to obtain the publication of the cassettes, which were at the center of a police department reshuffle and a series of lawsuits.

Buttigieg's critics say he tries to conceal the content of the tapes, which some say could include racist language from white police.

South Bend is under fire with anger over allegations of racism. The city's black rulers say that if there is evidence of racism, it could call into question many convictions of white police investigating black suspects in a black city at 25%.

Members of Jesse Jackson's Rainbow PUSH coalition met with Buttigieg in 2014 and urged him to call for a federal inquiry into allegations of police misconduct.

"There is a level of frustration," said Karen White, a black city councilor and democrat. "We want this question to be closed in order to make sure that it does not further polarize our community. We have the right to know [what’s on the tapes]just like our citizens. "

Defenders of Buttigieg say that it is not trying to conceal the tapes, but rather is trying to ensure that the publication of the recordings is not contrary to federal or national law on wiretapping. No one in the mayor's office listened to the recordings, sources said.

The mayor's allies say they have been stuck, wanting to know if the allegations of racism are true but not wanting to expose the city to prosecution if a judge ruled that the gangs were violating federal and regional laws.

"From the first day, the mayor has the position to do nothing unless the court has authorized," said an ally Buttigieg. "These are serious questions. Serious allegations. His oath and his work are every day respecting the law, so that's what he does. Whatever the court's decision, whether the cassettes are broadcast or destroyed, it will do so. "

The case is currently in the hands of Justice Steve Hostetler of the St. Joseph County Superior Court, who may rule on summary judgment in the coming weeks, but new appeals are expected.

The question has potential ramifications in the Democratic primary. Buttigieg, 37, a Harvard graduate, Rhodes Scholar and military veteran, launched his presidential campaign Sunday at a former Studebaker plant in South Bend, claiming his policy had revitalized the once-dying Midwestern town.

African-American voters will be a force in the primary, where 18 Democrats and others are struggling to be heard. If the judge decides that the tapes are to be broadcast, their content will immediately become a national story.

The hill searched judicial documents and interviewed more than a dozen people to examine the roots of the story that began in early 2011, before Buttigieg was elected mayor. The mayor's office and the South Bend Police Department declined to comment.

Secret registrations

In 2011, Karen DePaepe, a veteran of the South Bend Police Department responsible for the Dispatch and Communications Center for 25 years, informed Boykins that Detective Bryan Young's office phone line was being registered.

A former police chief had allowed registration on the phone line because the detective at the time did not want to miss a tip. Boykins allowed the continuation of the recording, now on Young's phone line, but did not inform the detective that his calls were recorded.

About a year later, shortly after Buttigieg was elected to his first term at the age of 29, DePaepe discovered on-line recordings that allegedly revealed racist remarks and a possible criminal conspiracy between the police.

DePaepe brought the charges to Boykins, who confronted the agents.

The police, frustrated by the secret tapes, went to the FBI and the Ministry of Justice to request an investigation. They argued that the recordings were illegal and their complaints prompted US lawyer David Capp to open an investigation.

Buttigieg intervenes

Buttigieg was only made aware of the investigation into the records that began in early 2012, when the FBI had alerted him.

Buttigieg's allies are frustrated that Boykins did not tell him about the investigation. The mayor was alarmed by allegations that the officers were poorly registered.

Although he initially asked Boykins to remain chief of police after his mayoral victory, Buttigieg, after learning the investigation, asked him to resign.

Boykins complied, but one day later, after consulting legal counsel and hearing from community supporters, he reversed the process and asked to be reinstated.

In an interview with The Hill, Boykins lawyer Tom Dixon accused the mayor's office of misleading his client and frightening him of letting him go. In a lawsuit, Boykins said he had withdrawn under "the false claim that the mayor was headed in this direction by the US Attorney's Office."

Buttigieg yielded to a certain extent, removing Boykins from his duties as chief of police, but keeping him in the ranks with a demotion to the rank of captain.

The mayor also fired DePaepe, thinking that she had deliberately spied on police officers to rid them of the dust. DePaepe challenged this qualification by asserting in court that she had "inadvertently fallen on conversations" between officers.

Trial

The layoffs and demotion led to a series of lawsuits.

Boykins sued the city for racial discrimination, saying the registration policy existed under former police chiefs, who were white.

In a lawsuit, Boykins argued that Buttigieg had used the registration scandal as an excuse to get rid of him. Boykins said that since the election of Buttigieg, the city's three most senior Afro-American leaders had retired, been forced out or demoted. The men who replaced them, says Boykins, were white.

"The mayor has seized the" tape scandal "to wipe South Bend's African-American rulers," says Boykins' tort case.

DePaepe filed a lawsuit for unfair dismissal, claiming that the wrapped recordings contained "racially derogatory statements about other rank officers" and a plot to convince the new mayor to eliminate Boykins .

A third lawsuit was filed by a group of four policemen and the wife of a police officer, who claimed to have been illegally registered and defamed.

The city is settled with everyone. Boykins received $ 75,000, DePaepe, $ 235,000 and the group of officers, $ 500,000.

At the time, Buttigieg justified the settlements by claiming that resorting to the courts would have been more costly for taxpayers in the city.

"Even though I am convinced that our administration has made the right decision, the defense and the gain of these lawsuits represent a significant cost, financially and in terms of energy and attention," he said. -he declares. "Every day that passed, these persistent cases were bad for the city and a chance to reach an agreement and solve them was in the best interest of the city."

The US lawyer closed the book on the case, claiming that there was no evidence establishing the commission of a crime by registering police officers.

Continue the cassettes

City council and local activists were alarmed by allegations of racism and corruption in the police department.

Former city council member Henry Davis, Democrat, called for a federal inquiry in a 2012 letter to Tom PerezThomas Edward PerezClinton's First Five Vice-Presidents Choose Government's Social Programs: Triumphs Over Hope for Labor's "Wastage and Mismanagement" at Workers' Comp MORE, who at the time was Deputy Attorney General of the Division of Civil Rights of the DOJ.

"The dissatisfaction is very strong," Davis wrote. "This letter is a plea to the Department of Justice for immediate action for the protection and safety of our residents and police in South Bend."

The police are suing Davis for defamation. Dan Pfeiffer, a police lawyer, told The Hill that there was nothing criminal about the recordings. Pfeiffer accused Boykins of using cassettes as blackmail to threaten his political rivals, some of whom were looking for the post of police chief in the new administration.

The city council issued a subpoena for the bands. A lawyer of the board members argued that there was no expectation of privacy in a police station and that the police learned, as part of their training, that they had to wait for their phone lines to be registered.

The mayor challenged the subpoena to appear in federal court, arguing that a judge had to decide whether it was legal for anyone to listen to the recordings.

The fight around the tapes has gone through the courts ever since.

The controversy weighed on Buttigieg's two terms, but his approval rate at South Bend is staggering. South Bend is Democrat at about 55%. Buttigieg was re-elected for a second term with over 80% of the vote.

Proponents of Buttigieg say he has made progress in correcting the racial divide.

"It happened very early in his administration and the mayor has since spent a lot of time with communities of color to build confidence," said Buttigieg's ally. "It was really hard, especially so early in his tenure. But he was able to establish deeper relationships because of that. "

But some believe Buttigieg has mismanaged the situation, especially with Boykins, who is well regarded in the community.

"Personally, I thought Chief Boykins could have handled things differently," said White, delighted to see Buttigieg enter the presidential race, but does not support a candidate at the moment. "There was a perception within the community that Boykins … was designed to be someone who did not fit his character."