The deputy director of criminal investigations of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), Sophie Roy, should act as director Sylvain Caron, who will leave his post on April 22. She will thus become the first woman to lead the Montreal police.
Posted at 9:33 a.m.
Sources on Tuesday confirmed the information first revealed in some media. Mme Roy would have been recommended by Mr. Caron himself to ensure the interim.
According to our information, the Montreal Public Security Commission is to meet Tuesday morning, behind closed doors, to give its approval to this appointment. The executive committee will then have to ratify the recommendation. And in early May, the Council of Ministers will give the final green light. By taking the interim, Sophie Roy – who has more than 34 years of experience at the SPVM – is therefore putting a cross on the permanent succession of Sylvain Caron, a position that would not interest her in the longer term.
Currently deputy director of criminal investigations for the Montreal police, Sophie Roy had also previously held this senior position at the gendarmerie.
In announcing his departure at the head of the SPVM in mid-March, the outgoing director Sylvain Caron had recognized that with the pandemic and the shootings, in particular, his three years at the head of the police force were “a rolling fire”. In the same breath, he maintained that the accumulation of several factors encouraged him to retire for personal reasons, before the end of his mandate.
“I have my health, I want to preserve it and find a certain balance. I’ve been in senior management for seven and a half years, including my years at the Sûreté du Québec. I think I’ve done quite a bit of business. There is a moment to arrive and another to leave. I decided that the time to leave had come,” he explained in an interview with The Press.
An idea of the successors
Several other people remain in the running for the potential succession of Mr. Caron. Among them, we find for example Marc Charbonneau, a former teacher and police officer for 23 years. He is currently Deputy Director in the Integrity and Professional Standards Branch.
We also find Anne Chamandy, a civilian and a criminologist by training, who is currently assistant director of communications. In particular, she piloted the Green Paper file presented to the Quebec Ministry of Public Security.
Finally, the current deputy director and responsible for social and prevention files, Vincent Richer, could well take over. He is the originator of the forum against armed violence and of the policy on police stops, and has now been a police officer for 28 years.
Officially, the selection process for the next head of the SPVM was already launched in March, with a public posting. This spring, a selection committee – made up of representatives of the opposition and related cities – will choose from among all the candidates, who can apply from anywhere in Quebec and Canada. This decision will then have to be ratified by the city’s executive committee, the Commission de la sécurité publique and the Government of Quebec. The identity of this person should be known by the end of next fall.
With Daniel Renaud