A federal judge is again siding with South Bend in a court ruling related to the controversy over recorded phone calls at the South Bend Police Department.
Thursday's decision means the court case filed by the city will be consolidated with the federal lawsuit filed by four police officers and one of their wives.
Last fall the city and the officers asked the judge to combine the cases because they share common issues...mainly, whether phone conversations in the department were illegally recorded.
Those recordings are alleged to contain racist comments.
A federal investigation into the tapes led to the demotion of the police chief and the firing of the department's communication's director.
