The Long Run: Pete Buttigieg Fired South Bend's Black Police Chief. It Still Stings.

[Celerity]

9. He didn't fire him, he ultimately demoted him, and the chief was under FBI investigation

for illegal wiretapping at the time.

Boykins did resign, then took it back, at which point Buttigieg demoted him.


Boykins stayed on with the force and retired in 2017

Former South Bend Police Chief announces retirement from law enforcement
By Tom Franklin - July 8, 2017

https://www.953mnc.com/2017/07/08/former-south-bend-police-chief-announces-retirement-law-enforcement/




The chief continued to record the officers AFTER he accidentally found out that they were being taped (this started before Pete was mayor).

Also, the tapes have not been released because a Federal judge ruled in 2015 they were illegal wiretapping. That was appealed and kicked back to a state court, where it stands now.


Judge Rules Some South Bend Police Department Recordings Violated Wiretap Act

http://southbendvoice.com/2015/01/14/judge-rules-some-south-bend-police-department-recordings-violated-wiretap-act/





https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/17/politics/pete-buttigieg-south-bend-tapes/index.html

The mayor addresses the tapes case at length in his memoir and writes that his initial decision to reappoint Boykins -- who had been appointed to the position by Buttigieg's predecessor -- when he took office in January 2012 was his "first serious mistake as mayor."

"The chief, believing that some other officers were gunning for his job, allegedly confronted them with tape recordings that could embarrass them if disclosed," Buttigieg writes. "He had access to these tapes because some phone lines in the department were connected to recording equipment used for interviews and investigations, and the officers had been recorded on that equipment without their knowledge."

Buttigieg goes on to write that he learned -- a few weeks into his first term -- that Boykins was under investigation by the FBI for possibly violating the Federal Wiretap Act.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/438669-secret-tapes-linger-over-buttigiegs-meteoric-rise

In 2011, Karen DePaepe, a 25-year veteran of the South Bend Police Department in charge of the dispatch and communications center, informed Boykins that the desk phone line for Detective Bryan Young was being taped.

A previous police chief had authorized taping the phone line because the detective at the time didn’t want to miss any possible tips. Boykins allowed the taping, now on Young’s phone line, to continue but did not inform the detective that his calls were being recorded.

About a year later, shortly after Buttigieg had been elected to his first term in office at the age of 29, DePaepe discovered recordings on the line that she said revealed racist remarks and a potential criminal conspiracy between officers.