Towards record staff additions to the SPVQ

The City of Quebec is preparing to launch a wave of police hiring never seen since the municipal mergers of the 2000s. In total, around a hundred permanent positions must swell the ranks of the Service de police de la Ville de Québec (SPVQ) d by 2026.

Mayor Bruno Marchand made the announcement Tuesday morning at city hall. One year before the elections, public safety should become one of the main priorities of his administration in view of the next municipal elections.

From 2025, the SPVQ will create 51 new positions. An equivalent number of police officers will be added in 2026. In total, 101 new recruits will increase the numbers of the Quebec City Police Service over two years.

The addition of 72 new resources was also confirmed over 2 years to Fire Protection Services (SPCIQ).

The new firefighters and police officers who will take office by 2026 represent an investment of $10 million. The purchase of equipment and vehicles totaling $5 million is also planned.

Reality has changed, and our job is to respond to this new reality and not wait for catastrophe.

The director of the SPVQ, Denis Turcotte, accompanied Mayor Marchand for this announcement. He believes that the reinforcements will be welcome, in a context where the face of crime has changed considerably.

Even if Quebec remains a city where life is good, we are still observing the emergence of a new form of crime which is manifesting itself and which is more present in our territory he adds, specifying that the addition of personnel will allow the SPVQ to be more effective in intelligence gathering and prevention.

At a press briefing, the mayor clarified that the addition of these new positions will be done in addition to replacements for retirements.

This is the largest recruitment operation in the SPVQ since the creation of the new City of Quebec and the demergers of Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures and L’Ancienne-Lorette, in 2005.

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If the numbers of the Quebec City Police Department seemed to jump in 2019, this fluctuation can be explained by management’s decision to grant permanent status to all of its temporary police officers.

The Labeaume effect

Since obtaining his first majority mandate, in 2009, Mayor Labeaume has worked to reduce and cap the police force in Quebec.

At the end of his first ten years in power, the number of permanent police officers increased from 745 in 2007 to 735 in 2017.

During this period, however, Quebec regularly made headlines for its low crime rate.

In 2010, Statistics Canada revealed, for example, that young minors living in the capital were less often victims of violence than in any other large Canadian city.

In 2016, according to the same federal body, Quebec claimed the lowest crime severity index among the country’s metropolitan regions.

The mosque attack

The shooting perpetrated at the Islamic Cultural Center of Quebec in the winter of 2017 led to a questioning of public security.

In the wake of this attack, the SPVQ chose to grant permanent status to all of its temporary police officers, which increased the regular workforce.

Likewise, the saber attack which cost the lives of two people in Old Quebec on Halloween night 2020 was followed by a series of hirings at the SPVQ the following year.

Adequate police coverage?

Since his election in the fall of 2021, Bruno Marchand has seen criminality unfold in the territory of Quebec disorganizedaccording to some observers of the police scene.

Several criminal groups contest the Hells Angels’ control of the drug trade in the region.

Faced with the increase in violent crimes, a former high-ranking officer of the Sûreté du Québec questioned the capacity of the SPVQ to counter the activities of criminal organizations operating on an interregional basis.

The City’s underinvestment and insufficient police coverage were particularly pointed out.

With his new commitments, Mayor Marchand could end his first term in 2025 by adding a total of 115 police officers to the SPVQ workforce over four years.

Additional staff at the SPCIQ as well

The Fire Protection Service (SPCIQ) will also see its workforce increase thanks to 35 new hires in 2025, then 37 in 2026.

The director of SPCIQ, Christian Paradis explains that these additional firefighters will make it possible to respond to the increase in the population in the territory and the evolution of provincial standards.

It is the population who will benefit from this increased service. We are not catching up, on the contrary, we are planning he believes.

With the collaboration of Flavie Sauvageau