Dit Dit Dit Dah Dah Dah Dit Dit Dit

By Margaret Lyons in News on Oct 11, 2007 5:30PM

At a press conference yesterday, West Side religious leaders praised interim police superintendent Dana Starks's decision to disband the SOS unit of the CPD. And Mayor Daley said Starks proves the police department can clean itself up, no outsider necessary, although he has yet to name an official superintendent. Stark has been on the job since August, when his predecessor Phil Cline resigned.

Daley claimed that "in all professions, there's always a code of silence," but it looks like that Blue Wall (hey, we watch a lot of cop shows) might start cracking: Two people filed a lawsuit yesterday against former SOS officers and Cline. The lawsuit stems from an illegal raid of a South Side bar, and is the first of what we're guessing will be many, many suits brought against the CPD, specific cops, and maybe the City.

Let us now turn to Michael Sneed and her sage wisdom.

Today's Sneed is chockfulla cops:

• • Tipsville: The investigation into the elite unit, which was disbanded Tuesday, will reportedly center on a federal probe of civil rights violations as well as official misconduct and obstruction of justice claims. Federal charges extend the statute of limitations.

Not a tip! That's just information, available to everyone.

• • The upshot: The probe centers on whether top cops knew or should have known what was happening at SOS, a source said.

• • The downshot: Officers in the elite unit were indicted for robbing and kidnapping people -- and one cop was charged with plotting to murder another officer. "Victims of these crimes were deprived of their right not to be terrorized," the source added.

• • The buckshot: "It will make the old Summerdale police scandal, which resulted in the arrest of crooked cops back in 1960, look like an English tea party," said the source.

We never understand Sneed's [whatever]shot distinctions, but we're especially miffed that Sneed needs a source to say "police brutality is super bad." Dateline, Tipsville!

Starks attack: Interim Chicago Police Supt. Dana Starks may have issued the order to pull the plug on the scandal-plagued Special Operations Section, but it was Mayor Daley who provided the broom to sweep it all away. Such a decision would never have been made without conferring with Mayor Daley. Bet on it.

Well, except that according to the Trib, "Daley said he had nothing to do with the decision announced Tuesday, affirming that the call was made by interim police Supt. Dana Starks."

Also, Luke Perry is 42 today, not 41.