Updated - CPD's Mobile Strike Force Invades Uptown

August 6, 2010 - 8:15 PM - CHICAGO - You'll see more police than usual on the streets of Uptown tonight. Between 40 and 44 Mobile Strike Force (MSF) vehicles are making a show of force on the troubled streets of Uptown tonight. UPDATE: Shots Fired in Uptown: 7-Eleven at 4155 N Broadway at Chicago News Report "They'll be responding in force to just about everything," a well-place CPD source told Chicago News Bench tonight. "Broken windows, prostitution, everything. They're out to clean it up." You might also see a helicopter or two tonight. The MSF consists mostly of special-duty officers who are not restricted to any particular beat or district. The MSF moves into an area as needed, and it's been decided that it's time for them to make a rare North Side appearance. The MSF was created in 2008. Uptown is on the far north side of Chicago, along the shore of Lake Michigan. Although it might not be as bad as some areas of Chicago, there are parts of it that are as bad as the notorious Austin District on the West Side. The area from N. Sheridan and W. Wilson west to N. Magnolia, for example. On July 28, two men were shot in the late afternoon in the 4500 block of N. Magnolia. One died immediately, falling dead in the street (the media reported incorrectly the nontruth from CPD that he died after 1:00 a.m. the next morning in a hospital). The next day, July 29, there was retaliatory gang shooting a few blocks away. Nobody was reported injured during that afternoon spree near W. Sunnyside and N. Sheridan. Those shooting incidents are only two of many that have occurred in Uptown's 46th Ward over the years. For more about shootings in Uptown, click here. While some may criticize the MSF presence in Uptown the sign of a "Police State," we say it's a rational, welcome and overdue response to the growing Gangster State.