Faced with increasingly complex cases to manage and exposed to the people’s court on social networks when their interventions go wrong, the police have a lack of recognition these days. So much so that the Association of Quebec Police Directors (ASPQ) deemed it necessary to launch an advertising campaign to promote this sometimes thankless profession.
In the first capsule that will be broadcast on social networks, Jérôme recounts the time he plunged into a psychotic abyss after a separation. “I thought I was the master of the world when I was in psychosis. I took out my gun and started shooting. The police officer Mylène Richard who intervened that day recounts the police intervention as she experienced it. “We realized that things are not going well in his head. We took the time to chat with him. This event did not make the headlines because the crisis was resolved without violence.
Believing that the police profession has had bad press in recent years, the ADPQ, with the support of the unions, has decided to launch a campaign to promote the work of the police. The ten capsules, which will be broadcast on social networks over the next year, aim to show the daily life of police officers, “the human behind the uniform”. Several themes will be addressed such as domestic violence, shootings, disappearances or road safety. “You will see police officers in their daily lives. There are no actors in the capsules. It will be real life, real interviews, real situations, ”assured Pierre Brochet, president of the ADPQ.
Filmed and judged
Mr. Brochet recognizes that beyond the message sent to citizens, police directors want to demonstrate their support for the troops sometimes shaken by criticism. “We have seen it in recent years, it is not always a job that is appreciated at its fair value,” he explained. “We are increasingly filmed, criticized, judged. […] We are often judged even before the authorities responsible for investigating and analyzing the cases have had the chance to learn about the facts. »
Police services, particularly in urban centres, are grappling with a “police disengagement” which curbs the desire of police officers to intervene with individuals from minorities for fear of generating a crisis situation and suffering from it. the results. An event that lasts only a few seconds will be dissected for six years by the authorities that oversee the work of the police, recalled Mr. Brochet. According to him, it is important that the police feel the support of their superiors. “We want to avoid the police stationing themselves and waiting for calls. »
On the subject of the shootings that have regularly punctuated the news for a year in the Montreal region, Pierre Brochet recognizes that the problem is worrying, but he assures that the police forces are “mobilized” in this difficult fight. “I am hopeful that we will regain control over this situation,” he said.
For his part, the president of the Quebec Provincial Police Association, Dominic Ricard, hopes that elected officials will do their part and refrain in the future from commenting on events involving police officers when they do not know. not all the facts. “It is the most standardized profession. […] There should be some duty of reserve [de la part des élus] “, he believes.
Social networks also impose significant pressure on the police. Dominic Ricard cites the case of ex-hockey player Brandon Christian, shot dead by the police in 2020 in Saint-Georges, Beauce. “The coroner had concluded that the police had tried everything to avoid firing,” he explained. “But for two years, on social networks, there were people who criticized the police when the police had done their job. »