SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP): A special prosecutor will look into whether criminal charges should be filed in the case of wiretapping within the South Bend Police Department.
A criminal complaint citing the Indiana Wiretap Act was filed by a police officer, who was among several officers who had phone conversations recorded. A department spokesman says the complaint was referred to Indiana State Police to avoid a conflict of interest.
A St. Joseph County judge appointed Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Stanley M. Levco to take the case.
The complaint was filed shortly after a federal judge ruled in January that the department violated the law by continuing the recordings after learning in early 2011 that a phone line was inadvertently taped. But the judge said recordings from on or before Feb. 4, 2011, weren't illegal because no one meant to record the line.
