(Quebec) The guidelines provided by the government to oversee police arrests could be “potentially politicized”.
The Association of Quebec Police Directors (ADPQ) thus expressed its fears on Wednesday concerning Bill 14, currently under study, which would threaten the independence of the police.
In an article of this legislative text, the government wants in fact to regulate police arrests with guidelines yet to be defined, following a judgment handed down in October by the Superior Court, which condemns this type of intervention in the associated with “racial profiling”.
But in a parliamentary committee on Wednesday afternoon, the director of the ADPQ, Pierre Brochet, expressed serious reservations: it would be the first time that the power of the Ministry of Public Security would be extended to issue guidelines, a- he suggested.
“We would enter into investigations or police operations by dictating to directors and police services how to do things, that is my concern,” the senior police officer told Public Security Minister François Bonnardel. .
He fears that a minister will intervene according to the headlines of the moment.
“Depending on media pressure or media crisis, some governments could be tempted to implement actions through guidelines. »
Mr. Brochet spoke of the student crisis of 2012, when the government of the time was under pressure.
“Would the government then have been tempted to give guidelines to the police to calm things down? »
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Director of the Association of Quebec Police Directors, Pierre Brochet
Or, if a dramatic incident occurs where the police use force, the government could be tempted to ban the method used, without analysis or study.
The police must be independent, their credibility and that of justice depend on it, pleaded the president of the ADPQ. If the government wishes to impose its guidelines in its bill, then the ADPQ insists on being involved in their development.
The APDQ also wants to keep the police arrests. The organization points out that 40% to 60% of impaired driving arrests are made thanks to section 636 of the Highway Safety Code, which allows the officer to authorize that “the driver of a road vehicle immobilizes his vehicle”. It is this article that Justice Michel Yergeau of the Superior Court invalidated in October, a decision that Quebec is appealing.
Moreover, with regard to the random stopping of pedestrians, the ADPQ maintains that this practice is already impossible.
The arrest cannot be random, because a police officer must have “reasons” and “suspicions” to act, pleaded Mr. Brochet.
However, the ADPQ admitted that eventual guidelines could help put an end to racial profiling.
“It would be a big step forward,” concluded the president of the association.
However, on Tuesday, the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) argued that a law will not be enough to put an end to racial profiling.
The union of police officers of the City of Montreal, for its part, warned Minister François Bonnardel against an overly strict framework of guidelines that would compromise the safety of the population and the fight against street gangs.
Remember that last October, Judge Yergeau ordered an end to random interceptions, because they do indeed give rise to racial profiling and because the violation of the rights of those who are victims of it is no longer tolerable.
The judge concluded that police forces will not be able to eliminate profiling if they are not prevented from arresting anyone at any time.
Following evidence showing that “black people are at least twice as likely to be arrested as white people”, the judge concluded that “racial profiling does exist” and that it is “a reality that weighs heavily on black communities”.
In addition, the magistrate felt that he had not been shown that random arrests made it possible to improve the road safety record.