GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — New court documents say that a Grand Rapids Police Department phone line marked “non recorded” may have been recorded as far back as 2010 — but that it was by accident.
The documents filed Thursday are the latest in a legal battle surrounding the firing of GRPD Lt. Matthew Janiskee. The main points of contention in the case have been why a particular phone line was recorded and whether the recordings can be used against Janiskee or released to the public.
The recordings in question are from the night of Nov. 19, 2016, when then-Assistant Prosecutor Joshua Kuiper drove the wrong way down a Grand Rapids street, hitting a parked car and injuring its driver. The responding officer called headquarters and told Janiskee that Kuiper was “hammered.” Janiskee ordered the officer to switch to Line 3407, which was marked “not recorded” but unbeknownst to the officers was being recorded.
In the documents filed Thursday, the city’s attorney argued a judge should turn down Janiskee’s request looking for proof that command staff knew Line 3407 was being recorded. The attorney called that request a “fishing expedition” and said there’s nothing to indicate such proof exists.
The city has said all along that Line 3407 was recorded inadvertently but hasn’t previously provided an explanation for how that happened.