The Chicago Police Department is disbanding its elite Special Operations Section. Seven officers have been charged with robbery and kidnapping.
Chicago Tribune reporter Dave Heinzmann says Chicago Mayor Richard Daley cited systematic problems within the S.O.S. and the way the unit operates during the announcement of the unit's closure.
The S.O.S. officers are considered among the city's best and are entrusted with a lot of responsibility and freedom. That freedom allegedly led some of the officers "to the dark side," Heinzmann says.
One S.O.S. officer allegedly tried to hire a hit man to kill a fellow S.O.S. officer who was cooperating with an investigation into the unit.
Heinzmann says the arrests and scandals are troublesome for Chicago on many levels — from moral among the rank-and-file police officers, to Daley's offices, which is trying to draw the Olympic Games to the city. So an old fashioned Chicago police scandal could not have come at a worse time for the city, he says.
Heinzmann talks to Alex Chadwick about the S.O.S. unit and the fall out from the scandal.
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