Former mayor Denis Coderre came out of his silence to criticize the Plante administration, castigating the lack of police personnel in Montreal, in the moments following two new murders committed in the Metropolis.
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“An isolated incident let’s see… everything is fine. We even have too many police officers,” he quipped on Facebook on Tuesday.
The day before, the president of the Fraternity of police officers and policewomen of Montreal (FPPM), Yves Francoeur, had written an open letter addressed to the mayoress Valérie Plante, in which he denounced a lack of manpower.
According to his calculations, there would be 72 fewer police officers at the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) over the past 10 months, for a total of 4,338.
“It is time to really get into this administration. They lie like they breathe,” denounced Mr. Coderre. For him, there is a problem, and it is “time to face reality”.
During the election campaign, he had himself promised to quickly hire 250 police officers in order to reach the ceiling of 4,802 personnel allowed by the Quebec government.
A promise which was then taken up by Ms. Plante. After her election, however, she clarified that these hires would instead fill vacancies.
The City also boasted on Monday of having made 229 hires since the start of the year.
“We all have a role to play, but we also have to assume and [se] provide the tools to succeed, but above all, you have to raise your head in the sand and recognize the problem. Innocent victims are dying and people are afraid to go out,” maintained Mr. Coderre.