The Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) is missing 169 police officers so that it can increase its presence on the ground, according to a union which is “urgently” pressing Quebec to finance a special contingent of more than a hundred new agents.
“Right now it’s going in the wrong direction. The government must grant a special status to Montreal and finance the Public safety of citizens,” insists Yves Francoeur, president of the Brotherhood of Police Officers of Montreal, in an interview with The newspaper.
In 2022, Geneviève Guilbault, then Minister of Public Security, promised to increase the net number of police officers by 450 police officers in the metropolis over the next five years in order to improve their presence on the ground in the face of increasing violence. army and the feeling of insecurity.
However, the Police Department of the City of Montreal is struggling to keep up with this pace and will find itself short of 169 police officers in 2024 compared to the objectives for this year of the Ministry of Public Security (MSQ) if nothing is done to increase hiring.
Mr. Francoeur’s exit comes as he will testify Tuesday at the National Assembly as part of the study of budgetary appropriations.
Photo Agence QMI, JOEL LEMAY
Dedicated cohort refused
Last year, a very first special cohort of 108 police officers intended for the SPVM was trained at the National Police School of Quebec (ENPQ).
However, a request for the training of the same number of agents for this year was refused by the MSQ. Mr. Francoeur asks the ministry to reverse its decision.
“Montreal cannot afford to disengage from the Ministry of Public Security,” explained Mr. Francoeur. Currently in Montreal, there are 6,000 investigation files that are on ice due to lack of personnel to process them, including 500 sexual assault files,” maintains Mr. Francoeur.
The union leader also cites “the decline in the feeling of security” among citizens, which his police officers observe on the ground.
Mr. Francoeur also asks the government to reverse its decision to end funding for the Community Consultation and Rallying Team (ECCR), a “nonsense” according to him given that it was responding in particular to the crisis of homelessness.
The overcrowded police academy
Despite new investments last year which almost doubled its training capacity, the ENPQ is not able to meet demand in Montreal without a dedicated cohort, according to Mr. Francoeur.
“The entire police community is competing for candidates. We have a contingent of new [employés] this week which should have been 40 and which is only 19. The others were hired elsewhere,” he explains.
Attracting recruits to Montreal always represents a challenge according to the latter, in particular because of the price of housing and mobility issues in the metropolis.
The Fraternity also reports an increase in the workload for its members.
“In recent years we have gone from 1,500 to 2,000 security services [déploiement pour des événements] per year. It requires a lot of staff. The wars in Ukraine and Israel bring their share of demonstrations,” says Mr. Francoeur.
