Put a Patch on Your Shirt and Go Grab Some DVDs

Saturday gave us two questions. What is bylaw enforcement? And why does it wear jeans and drive a pick-up? While other cops get fancy uniforms, bylaw officers dress in a style that can at best be deemed rent-a-cop chic. Certain numbers of them began Saturday in a pick-up truck at the top of Spadina, and spent the afternoon proceeding in a southerly fashion, upturning tables of bootlegged DVDs and tossing the pirated wares into their truck at regular interval. Each confiscation drew a little crowd of perplexed onlookers, and much argument, as many of the card table proprietors didn’t seem to know that selling Hitch on the street is illegal. The no frills bylaw enforcement team didn't seem to be arresting, just confiscating. And Toist enjoyed keeping pace with the raids. We walked leisurely, only to see the men jump out in front of a bootlegger as soon as we got to each table. It all seemed a bit silly, but we'll thank them for one thing - a few less copies of Hitch on the streets.