DiManno: How long can Blair stay shackled?

Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair addresses the media at a press  conference held at the Empress hotel in Victoria, BC.

Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair addresses the media at a press conference held at the Empress hotel in Victoria, BC.

Anybody got the keys to Police Chief Bill Blair’s handcuffs?

Because Toronto’s top cop — indisputably the most powerful municipal law enforcement official in Canada — has got a bad case of the shackles.

Five officers identified by late Wednesday afternoon as cop-on-civilian combatants during the G20 Summit protests and there’s apparently precious little Blair can do about it.

Can’t fire ’em. Can’t suspend ’em without pay, pending a disciplinary hearing. Can’t compel them — if designated by the Special Investigations Unit as subject officers, which hasn’t happened yet with this quintet — to come forth for interviewing by the independent agency.

So what’s a chief for?

Read on...

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