New “SOS Type” Mobile Strike Force Ends First Month

New “SOS Type” Mobile Strike Force Ends First Month

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The Chicago Police department’s Mobile Strike Force is finishing up its first month of operations this weekend.

The unit is a replacement for the Special Operations Section, or SOS unit which moved around the city wherever gang and crime activity was the hottest. Facing pressure over the rising homicide rate, Police Superintendent Jody Weis resurrected the scandal plagued group earlier this year. Craig Futterman thinks that’s a bad idea. He’s a lawyer who frequently sues the city over issues of police misconduct.

FUTTERMAN: The whole idea behind SOS or this mobile strike force is to be superman. Let’s come in from the outside and swoop down and stamp crime out.

Futterman says the unit is motivated by stats, by how many arrests they make and how many drugs they get off the street. The problem is that in order to do that they’ll rush a corner where there’s drug activity and pat down everyone thereby alienating all the law abiding citizens who happen to be passing by.

I’m Robert Wildeboer, Chicago Public Radio.