I have a hard time deciding what I think of Cedric Daniels. He certainly decided at some point in his career that he was going to do things right but he really doesn't seem to view his own crooked actions with any guilt at all he seems to have justified them in his mind.

He didn't do anything about the huge cuts that ruined the police department he went along with them in hopes of making things right when he became commissioner or was it just the idea of being commisioner that blinded him of everything else.

Yeah it is a tricky question, and leads into the kind of moral relativism that this show is so great at provoking.

I think for the most part he is an honorable man; certainly no less so than Carcetti, Rawls, etc. His refusal to play the stats game was heroic; as he tells Marla, the stat game is the problem facing the department. In that respect, he is very Colvin-esque, which is just about as high a compliment as one can earn in that universe.

On the other hand, he has a checkered past and is not above playing politics to his personal gain. I still think though that overall he was a good influence on the department (particularly on Carver), and when compared to other people in his stratosphere, he was a good guy.

On the other hand, he has a checkered past and is not above playing politics to his personal gain.

Is it wrong to play politics to gain a position to improve the situation for everyone? (oh, I don't know, say by manuevering your way to the top to fix the police department and improve the streets of Baltimore? Or a 16 year old in 1943 lying to the US Army so he can go beat some Nazi ass?)

Of course Cedric Daniels is good. He's great.

Of course Cedric Daniels is good. He's great.

So, stealing money obtained in drug busts doesn't warrant any consideration? I agree, he is a basically good man, but I don't think it is quite so clear-cut.