I am a lawyer. :) Probable cause is an American term. If they ARE observing a criminal act in person, you're correct. They can arrest at that point, but still not necessarily search the car. If they're only observing something suspicious, that's not good enough without a warrant.

They certainly could have gotten a warrant to search the cars for those envelopes and their contents. But you're right, warrants are very specific - and by the time they got one based on their observations of the covert exchanges, one would assume the envelopes would have been gone.

He wasn't supposed to be readmitted at all. He was just going back for follow up tests, or so he said.

Correct. That's my recollection as well.

Are we sure this is true? I certainly haven't heard it anywhere, including on the 1010 website or twitter account... one would think that news would be exploding if it was true.

I don't think so. You don't rent an airplane for surveillance if you're trying to make an investigation go away. Edit: there may be a select few within the ranks who are trying to interfere, but I don't think they're controlling things.

Let's be careful not to paint the Somali community with a single brush. A very, very, very small portion of the Somalian community was involved with the Fords. Like any population, those that became involved in the drug trade do not represent the community as a whole.

Daniel Dale ‏@ddale8 · 3m3 minutes ago "Get the fuck out of here. This is Ford Nation, bitch," man walking by tells Olivia Chow.

CP24 ‏@CP24 · 4m4 minutes ago A new poll of Toronto voters finds 38 per cent support John Tory for mayor, 32 per cent support Ford & 20 per cent support Chow. #cp24vote

Speaking of which, what's the story behind chronical problemicals?

Yup. Likely something about the magic subway unicorn flying in to save the city, and how if it weren't for the damn LRT on St Clair, the situation would have been under control much faster.

Agree. Unless there's a specific security threat, democracy must go on.

I saw that too, and found it quite offensive.

I'm sure they do, all of questionable legality.

Those duds are bloody expensive, believe me! I assume all judges would keep them after retirement. I have seen in various courthouses robes that retired judges have donated for display (but otherwise would have kept). I will certainly keep my barrister's robes when - or if - I ever retire.

I think the only reasonable explanation (and the likely one) is that they didn't want to blow a larger investigation for small stuff. I've seen that many times, even with big investigations involving my clients. Let's just hope something eventually pans out.

If the envelopes were in the car, they'd have to get a search warrant for the car to get them.

If they have grounds to arrest him, of course they can (and should) arrest him. And I have no doubt that if any of my clients at Jane & Finch had done some of the things RoFo has done, they'd have been in cuffs. But unless they're going to lay charges, they can't just "pull him in for...

Generally speaking (there are of course exceptions to every rule), that's correct! And uncooperative witnesses do hobble police investigations quite frequently. I have had many, many cases fall apart because of the code on the streets - witnesses won't cooperate, so the charges are withdrawn.

Agreed. It's almost unheard of.