Chicago Area Local News

CHICAGO (CBS) ― A series of scandals is forcing the Chicago Police Department to disband an elite unit. The unit has been under intense scrutiny for months after incidents of police abuse came to light.

As CBS 2's Dana Kozlov reports, Interim Police Superintendent Dana Starks says this has been in the works for several months and is being done, in part, to restore public trust and confidence.

But the head of the police union says this may be a knee-jerk reaction that could potentially hurt crime-fighting efforts in certain areas.

The elite drug and gang squad has been under scrutiny for a year, ever since former officer Jerome Finnegan and six other special ops cops were charged with violently robbing homes of innocent residents and drug dealers, and ever since video surfaced of officers unlawfully searching patrons of a bar.

Finnegan was charged last month with allegedly plotting to hire someone to kill a potential witness against him, a fellow police officer.

"The recent incidents involving officer misconduct have been disheartening and demoralizing, especially to the officers who serve this department honorably every single day," Starks said.

"I am confident this is a positive step forward," Starks said at a news conference Tuesday.

Starks said the Special Operations Section will be reorganized and all specialized units -- including SWAT teams, the helicopter unit and mounted patrol -- will be organized under one unit and closely supervised.

"We cannot monitor every single police officer's behavior," Starks said. "But we can enforce accountability measures combined with a disciplinary process to demand that members at supervisory levels are held accountable. I am confident that this is a positive step forward."

He said more officers will be assigned to an internal affairs division to monitor officers, including unannounced audits at districts to follow up and monitor citizen complaints.

"We believe that all of these measures will no doubt improve upon our efforts to strengthen community relationships, enhance our violence-reduction strategies and be better police officers," Starks said.

The seven officers, accused of belonging to a rogue band of officers who used their badges to shake down residents and intimidate people, all have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Also last month, three members of the unit were stripped of their badges and assigned to desk work after surveillance camera video at a bar contradicted officers' version of a search and arrests there.

Officers said in a police report that they searched Reymundo Martinez outside the bar in March 2004 because he was drinking on a public street. and arrested him when they found a plastic bag of cocaine sticking out of his sleeve.

But video from inside and outside the bar showed more than two dozen SOS members raiding the bar and searching everyone and showed them arresting Martinez inside.

But the president of the police union isn't convinced. He says the special ops section has been highly effective, and is concerned disbanding it might hurt crime-fighting efforts citywide.

"It's a concern we should all have in the city of Chicago, for the void that this is going to create in an attempt to curb the violence in the city, " said Mark Donahue, president of the Fraternal Order of Police. "It's a concern I have and it's a concern that I have for the rest of the police officers out there."

CBS 2's Dana Kozlov and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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