The new mayor of Quebec, Bruno Marchand, judges that there is “a problem” with the police following the recent dissemination of videos of arrests worrying by their intensity. Conversely, the head of the Service de police de la Ville de Québec (SPVQ), Denis Turcotte, and the president of the Fraternité des policemen, Martine Fortier, believe that we should not throw stones at the officers involved. before having read all the evidence and the circumstances of these interventions.
Unlike the two police leaders, Mayor Marchand found the right balance to express his indignation, without interfering in police affairs and presuming the conclusions of the ethics investigation announced by the Minister of Public security, Geneviève Guilbault. “The police are expected to be there to protect the world, to treat it with respect. If people have not understood that, the police chief will have to remedy the situation, ”he said correctly.
Think about it. During the arrest of Pacifique Niyokwizera at the exit of the bar Le Dagobert, on the night of November 26 to 27, the police dragged a young woman by the hair. As they punched and overpowered Niyokwizera, an officer threw snow in his face with his boot. A gesture of such contempt is not taught at the National Police Institute. Earlier in the same evening, the police rushed on Jean-Philippe St-Laurent during his arrest at the Portofino restaurant, overturning a table and its contents in the process. The 29-year-old man was injured by shards of glass and punches from police officers. Two other incidents were reported in the wake of these revelations.
There are certainly shades and areas of gray that are not yet known to the public about these interventions. The police and their union representatives will have plenty of arguments to justify their methods and present them as an acceptable use of force in the context of a difficult intervention. There is no need to intensely study what happened “before” and “after” the intervention to pass judgment on the “during”, as suggested by the SPVQ and the Fraternity. The images sometimes show a lack of civility, sometimes an eagerness to tackle, push and handcuff, sometimes an unusually intense use of force given the circumstances of each case.
The most disturbing remains in the concentration of the disputed interventions in the hands of the agents of the Group of relation and police intervention with the population (GRIPP), a squad responsible in particular for patrolling near bars and restaurants in order to maintain peace and security. Thus, three of the five agents suspended with pay took part in the interventions carried out at Dagobert and Portofino. One of them was also present for a third operation in the District Saint-Joseph, during which a father suffered a head trauma after being thrown against the wall.
Maybe these are isolated cases. Perhaps also that the “relational” part of the GRIPP mandate is poorly understood or shunned by the patrollers who are part of it. Are these crime fighters obsessed with stalking all kinds of gangs to the point of neglecting the maintenance of healthy relations with the population?
This is the kind of question that the Marchand administration should ask in the context of a citizens’ debate. Unfortunately, there is no public security commission in Quebec City, unlike in Montreal. This is a gap that prevents elected officials from monitoring (without interfering in investigations) about the SPVQ and its orientations.
In the National Assembly, voices were raised for the analysis of the case to be entrusted to the Bureau of Independent Investigations (BEI). Minister Guilbault prefers to entrust the task to the Police Ethics Commissioner, whom she has tasked with investigating the incidents of Dagobert and Portofino. This is not a bad idea, as the report will be made public, while the BEI never discloses the findings of its investigations. The Commissioner will have the same attitude as the EIB. He may recommend that the police be summoned to appear before the Police Ethics Committee, or even entrust the case to the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP) if he judges that there is grounds for laying criminal charges. At the same time, the SPVQ is also conducting its internal investigation.
The five police officers involved will not be required to testify before the Commissioner since they too are entitled to the presumption of innocence. This constraint will not prevent the Commissioner from having third parties testify and having access to all the required documentation, including event reports. For the investigation to remain credible, the Commissioner will have to proceed with speed and transparency.