Repeated stops by police of black drivers were banned last October by the Superior Court. Other solutions exist to overcome this practice which flirts with racial profiling, pleads a group of experts in public security.
A black man drives a vehicle. A police car follows him. She rolls by his side. Moments later, the sirens go off. After a few questions from the officers, the innocent citizen is released without further ceremony. This scene, repeated many times in Montreal, has become a source of tension, even clashes, between the population and its police department (SPVM).
“We understand this feeling of saying ‘come on, I didn’t do anything. I am not a criminal and I am constantly being intercepted!” We understand that 100%, ”drops Stéphane Wall, retired supervisor of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal.
Accompanied by Anie Samson, head of public security in Montreal between 2013 and 2017, and André Gélinas, retired detective sergeant of the SPVM, he called the press on Tuesday to outline the important issues for the police community in 2023. The trio presents itself as “the community of citizens in action against violent criminals”.
Rather than prohibiting interceptions without reason as prescribed by Judge Michel Yergeau last October, Stéphane Wall pleads for a “vehicle history register” comparable to the history register for homes. Such a register does not exist in any police force, according to these experts.
“We are already able to say at such and such an address, there is such and such a problem. This neighbor has this problem. We are able to create this information for each [intervention] “, explains the one who, although retired, remains very aware of the reality on the ground. “If we were able to create histories for vehicles, as we investigate people, we could say, ‘I pulled over a vehicle that belongs to a 60-year-old man, a 30-year-old man. years drives it, but it is his father’s vehicle. No need to intercept, everything is in order and he is very cooperative”. The next policeman who, two weeks later, would follow the vehicle would not have to intercept it. »
Interceptions without reason can catch many impaired drivers, underlines Stéphane Wall. With a vehicle register, “the police could work, continue to intercept and we would have fewer ethics complaints. You just have to find the budget,” he adds.
“Racism, discrimination or profiling” in the context of roadside interceptions were the subject of 68 complaints last year, according to the 2021-2022 report of the Police Ethics Commissioner. This number is increasing year by year.
Lack of confidence
The appeal of Montreal also fades according to these former police officers.
“There is not an extraordinary bond of trust between the police officers of Montreal and the town hall. There are many events, news items, where elected officials come out in the public square and participate in this public trial when all the facts are not known. […] It leaves long-term consequences, ”according to André Gélinas.
“In the past, Montreal attracted the best [policiers]. Now they are looking more towards the suburbs, Laval or the Sûreté du Québec,” observes Stéphane Wall.
At the federal level, Bill C-21 on gun control does not pass for a large portion of law enforcement, according to them. “We know that 90% of handguns recovered by the police through arrests and searches are weapons that come from the United States, from across the border,” says André Gélinas, for whom the violence in Montreal will continue with or without this law.
Ottawa also shot itself in the foot, they say, by quietly adopting Bill C-5 last November, which abolishes minimum sentences, particularly for those who fall into the category of “Indigenous peoples, blacks and racialized Canadians”. , said David Lametti, Minister of Justice.
“C-5 only increases the arrogance of street gangs. We can also add bikers and the mafia. It’s the same message. […] Before, we had a minimum of 2, 3, or 4 years in prison for an offence. Now, it is at the discretion of the judge and we can provide mitigating factors that have absolutely no relation to the objective nature of the crime,” points out André Gélinas.