Officer recently freed in Iowa finds home on SOS replacement
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By Frain Main and Annie Sweeney
Chicago Sun-Times
CHICAGO — When Officer Michael Mette was freed from prison earlier this month, he said he wanted to get back to police work.
He didn’t waste any time.
Mette is now in the Chicago Police Academy undergoing retraining -- and will join the newly created Mobile Strike Force when he is finished, police said.
Mette, 31, was released from prison in Iowa on Oct. 8 after an appeals court there ruled that he was wrongfully convicted for hitting a college student in Dubuque.
He was sentenced to five years in prison for punching a student who attacked him in 2005 outside a party. Mette was in Dubuque for his brother’s birthday party.
His conviction drew protests from Police Supt. Jody Weis and other Chicago officials who called on Iowa’s governor to pardon Mette.
Weis’ new Mobile Strike Force will replace the Special Operations Section, which was disbanded after Officer Jerome Finnigan and six others were arrested for allegedly robbing citizens.
The Mobile Strike Force will be sent into the city’s toughest neighborhoods to combat drug and gun crimes.
A 48-officer platoon with eight sergeants will hit the streets Friday. The officers have been undergoing training in tactics, law, crowd control and communications.
As many as two other platoons also will be created after those officers are selected and trained.
Officers must have at least three years’ experience to join the unit and sergeants must have at least one year as supervisors.
Copyright 2008 Chicago Sun-Times