The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) will now serve the territory of Thetford Mines, replacing its municipal police force. A disadvantage for residents, who lose local service, denounces the Federation of municipal police officers of Quebec.
Posted at 6:00 a.m.
The abolition of the municipal police force made public on Thursday is “a concrete example of the problem of two-tier funding for the police in Quebec, that is, the amounts invested by the government for the SQ and those for the municipal police forces,” said François. Lemay, president of the Federation of municipal police officers of Quebec (FPMQ).
“We are extremely disappointed with the decision taken by the Minister of Public Security,” he drops. He sees it as confirmation of an inequality between the funding of the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) as opposed to municipal police forces such as that of Thetford Mines or even Mont-Tremblant, which saw its police service replaced last year. .
The fact that the Government of Quebec asks cities to finance their own police forces in addition to having to subsidize the SQ of neighboring cities is part of the problem, adds Mr. Lemay.
“They tend to want to push small towns to choose to go to the SQ for lack of money much more than for real will, as the case of Thetford [Mines] to promote the SQ”, thinks the president of the FPMQ. ” The minister [de la Sécurité publique] drop the cities that have opted for community policing. »
Turnover and recruitment
Having a municipal police force has many advantages, he notes.
François Lemay argues that with the arrival of the SQ on the territory of Thetford Mines, the response time to interventions could be longer.
He also says that staff turnover will be faster, while municipal police officers often have a career in the same service and are more rooted in their municipality. “The typical profile of an SQ agent is someone who does not stay in one place for long. Knowledge of the environment and the subjects of interest is very important in the interventions. »
He wants the government to make the same effort for all police services. “Citizens have the right to choose how [ils vont] be protected. It also has an effect on recruitment, because it creates uncertainty among municipal police forces. »