TORONTO

A Florida sheriff who busted a local mayor on drug charges says crack-smoking Mayor Rob Ford should do the right thing and quit.

Bradford County Sheriff Gordon Smith announced the arrest of Hampton Mayor Barry Layne Moore on drug charges late Monday with a none-too-subtle nod to Toronto’s ongoing crack scandal — Ford has admitted to smoking crack and buying illegal drugs but has not been charged with a crime and has refused calls to resign.

“This isn’t Toronto,” Smith said late Monday in a statement. “We will not tolerate illegal drug activity, in my jurisdiction, by anyone (including) our elected officials.”

In an interview Tuesday night, Smith — who is also an elected official — said Ford is making a “mockery of the entire system.”

“He should have resigned, he should have had the cojones to go ahead and resign and say, ‘Hey, I messed up, I represent the people, the people are the ones that elect me and I’ve messed up and I’ve brought shame and therefore I’m going to step down and do the right thing,’” Smith told the Toronto Sun.

“Sometimes in life it just comes down to do the right thing.”

Smith said his comment wasn’t meant to cause any harm to Hogtown or Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair.

“I’ve read stuff on (Blair) … here’s a guy, all he’s got is the video, that’s not going to work in court,” Smith said. “If he’d caught (Ford), I’m sure he’d be in jail, which would have solved all the problems.”

While Smith has already notified the governor’s office about Moore’s arrest and the process has started to suspend the mayor, he understood Toronto doesn’t have a legal mechanism to boot a municipal politician out of office between elections.

“I feel sorry for the people of Toronto, it is like something bad happening in the family, it kind of embarrasses the whole family,” Smith said.

“You hate it because Toronto is a beautiful city.

“I’m a politician, it just takes one guy like that to make ... (people say) there goes those politicians again, it makes it bad for every elected official,” he added.

The sheriff was skeptical of Ford’s claim he smoked crack once around a year ago in a “drunken stupor.”

“I know a lot of people that get drunk, knee-knocking, commode-hugging drunk and they don’t go out and pick up a crack pipe and smoke crack — that’s way over the top,” Smith said. “You don’t smoke crack one time and quit either.”

Bradford county — the “heartbeat of Florida — has around 30,000 people and is sandwiched between Jacksonville and Gainesville. Hampton is a small community with around 500 people.

“The only gated community we have in our county is the jail,” Smith said.

Moore — who ran unopposed in the mayor’s race earlier this year — got on the cops’ radar after his name came up in a separate drug investigation.

According to the sheriff’s office, the drug unit arrested Moore on Monday at a home in nearby Polk County around 4:50 p.m.

“During an unrelated investigation Deputy Christopher Register received information alleging the mayor was selling prescription medication,” the press release stated. “This information was presented to the Bradford County Sheriff’s drug unit which in turn began an extended investigation.

“The investigation revealed the mayor obtained and then sold some Oxycodone,” the statement alleged.

Moore, 51, is charged with possession of a Schedule I or II drug and selling a schedule I or II drug. He has yet to post the $45,000 bail a judge imposed.

This isn’t the first time cops have arrested Moore.

According to police records, Moore was arrested on a battery charge in Oct. 2012 and a probation violation last December.

Smith was optimistic the long-arm of the law may one day catch up with Toronto’s mayor.

“You give a guy enough rope, they’ll hang themselves,” he said.