As part of a series of reports on the mental health of police officers, The newspaper spoke with dozens of experts and agents in addition to reviewing several dozen documents, including around forty requests for access to information. An observation emerges: it has never been so difficult to be a police officer.
A lot is demanded of the police: they must be courteous, but firm, caring, but authoritarian, smiling, but not too much. Returning from a night spent with them in the heart of Plateau-Mont-Royal, I am forced to admit that respect is far from going both ways.
In recent weeks, I was invited in a patrol car with agent Alexandre Fillion, who patrols the area of neighborhood station 38. Although I have specialized in police affairs for almost a decade at Montreal JournalI was very surprised to see to what extent people do not respect the police.
Officer Fillion, who assumes senior duties that evening, is responsible for communicating necessary information to night investigators in his sector.
Photo Agence QMI, JOEL LEMAY
I grew up in a family where law enforcement was well-regarded. When I was little, on vacation, my father told me to go and ask a “gentleman in uniform” for help if I lost my way. But today, it seems that’s not the case for everyone… for a host of different reasons.
11 p.m., a pedestrian struck
We urgently went to the corner of Boulevard Saint-Joseph Est and Rue Berri for a pedestrian who had just been seriously hit by a driver. At least, we’re trying to get there.
Despite the flashing lights and sirens, the motorists around us did not stop. Agent Fillion must manually activate the “electronic horn” to finally successfully clear his way through. Arriving on the scene, the patrol officers quickly disembark from their patrol car and rush to divert traffic while waiting for a crime scene to be established.
The police responded to the scene of an accident at the corner of Boulevard Saint-Joseph Est and Rue Berri, where a pedestrian was seriously struck.
Photo Agence QMI, JOEL LEMAY
Even if they are in the middle of the arteries, both arms crossed, some drivers still try to take the road by passing a few centimeters from them.
And I’ll spare you all the pedestrians who literally lifted the security tape to enter the crime scene “because they live right next door.”
11:30 p.m., an elder disappears
Two policewomen come to see Agent Fillion, who is performing senior sergeant duties that evening. They are on another call – the disappearance of an elder suffering from Alzheimer’s. He has no cell phone, no wallet, no friends and no particular habits. One of the worst possible scenarios, says Agent Fillion.
“We’re going to find him, our little man!”, one of them responds with motivation.
The two police officers begin their shift with the disappearance of an elder who suffers from Alzheimer’s. She “briefs” Agent Fillion, who is assuming senior sergeant duties that evening, so that he can liaise with the night investigators.
Photo Agence QMI, JOEL LEMAY
1:15 a.m., a woman in crisis blocks the street
We leave the stage to go help a young woman in distress sitting in the middle of rue Drolet. When we arrived, she screamed and refused to move. She claims not to recognize her friends. At one point, nearly ten police officers were around her.
A young woman on the ground and in crisis provokes a major police deployment. They show a lot of patience so that she leaves the scene calmly and of her own free will.
Photo Agence QMI, JOEL LEMAY
Showing enormous patience and kindness and without ever laying a single finger on her, they try to convince her to get up and seek her help. She refuses and insults them. Thanks to her partner, called for reinforcement by the agents, she finally got up and left the scene crying.
The young woman in crisis finally agrees to leave the scene with her partner, called for assistance by the agents.
Photo Agence QMI, JOEL LEMAY
2 hours, the eldest is located
Good news, the two police officers have just found the missing man suffering from Alzheimer’s. But no one has time to rejoice, another call comes on the airwaves.
A quarrel between a father and his daughter with a story of incest as a backdrop will occupy the police for the rest of the night.
Officer Fillion (right) and his colleague arrest a man for what appears to be a case of sexual assault.
Photo Agence QMI, JOEL LEMAY
And anyone who enters to collect the young woman’s testimony is guaranteed not to finish their shift on time.
“Once it starts, you can’t send someone else and break the bond of trust, that doesn’t happen,” says Agent Fillion.
On the way to the next call, while stopping at a red light, a passerby makes fun of the “old caravan” that Alexandre Fillion is driving and gives him the finger.
So, whatever the patience and dedication of our police officers, it will never be enough.
