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South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg (South Bend Tribune/MARCUS MARTER / June 1, 2012) |
With repeated calls from various sources to make public tapes at the heart of a federal wiretap investigation into the South Bend Police Department, city Mayor Pete Buttigieg issued a statement Friday afternoon.
The statement reads:
"It is understandable that the public would like to know the content of the tapes obtained and used by federal officers in their recent investigation of wiretap practices in the South Bend Police Dept.
"However, the letter from U.S. attorney David Capp to Acting City Attorney Aladean DeRose makes clear that the “intentional interception, use, or disclosure of wire and electronic communications” is prohibited by federal law.
"The City of South Bend would be committing an act prohibited by federal law in disclosing to anyone the tapes which were, per U.S. Attorney Capp, created in duplicate, of conversations on a police department phone line that was recorded even after learning it was not a line that was part of regular police recording.
"Indiana’s Access to Public Records Act does not authorize the city to engage in
an otherwise illegal act, and IndianaCode Section 5-14-3-4 expressly prevents disclosure of any record which is “required to be kept confidential by federal law."
"In keeping with the requirements of the federal eavesdropping and electronic
communications laws, the city cannot and will not disclose the tapes obtained and used in the federal investigations."
