A judge has refused to dismiss a $55 million civil rights suit against the city and former Police Chief Herbert Pitzman by 25 officers and 36 of their spouses, other relatives and friends.
More Top Picks Best Wood Carving Kits
U.S. District Judge Philip G. Reinhard in Rockford did dismiss all counts against former administrative Sgt. Randall Beu, 43, who, like Pitzman, 51, has retired. Reinhard also refused in Friday’s order to make the suit a class action, which would have permitted the inclusion of more officers and their relatives and friends as plaintiffs.
Pitzman and Beu are accused of taping conversations on an unlisted, non-emergency police phone without the knowledge of other officers for a 14-month period in 1991 and 1992. The phone was used for personal calls, calls to union officials on labor negotiations and calls by criminal suspects to their attorneys, according to the suit.