Just posted on the Toronto Star website..........
COMMENTARY
Blair must explain why police didn't arrest Rob Ford
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/comm...tml?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
It didn't take long for others to come forward with the same concerns that I expressed above.
Again - if you watch The Wire, it makes total sense.
Yeah, it's true that if the police saw some random black kid do the things Ford was doing with Lisi, they would have jacked him up IF they wanted to nail him on possession charges. But if that black kid was believed to be involved with murder or if, say, they thought his big brother was running one of the city's biggest drug rings, they wouldn't arrest him because they saw a weird transaction with an envelope and thus blow the larger case. They would only do it if their entire interest was to pull in someone on a nothing, standard drug charge.
The entire premise of that article is that they should have arrested Ford on possession but to what end? When they already knew about the video and how it relates to Anthony Smith and that Lisi was dealing and extorting people to get the tape? With all that going on they're going to pull over Ford to see if he's holding a few ounces? (To say nothing of the possibility all he's got is vodka or, per some of the conspiracy-minded here, shady documents).
How anyone can look at the Brazen 2 documents - the techniques used, the manpower, the plane etc. - and then think that a possession arrest would have been a fitting end is beyond me. It's a bizarre stance for Ruby to take.
Personally, I think the DUI's are harder to excuse since they actually involve the possibility of other people getting hurt, but you can still see why they wanted to keep giving Ford line so they could reel in the big fish. And, that's just Brazen - we still don't know how it all ties into Traveler which was ongoing for a couple of months during Brazen 2. So now Ruby wants them to pull over Ford when they have a massive, previously-unrelated gangs investigation going on? Gimme a break.
Finally, this all assumes Ford won't get charged. the only point I agree with/understand is that maybe a possession charge would seem satisfactory when stacked up against the fact he is not now facing ANY charges. I still think that's going to happen. Probably they hoped Lisi would give up his boss but even if that's not the case, we know it's ongoing and we know there are several huge unanswered questions. With all that up in the air, I don't know how any outside party can say what the police SHOULD have done is tried to take Ford down on relatively superficial and minor charges.
Blair does have to explain it all, but not yet.