Two police officers from the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) were “intimidated” after denouncing a colleague who had tried to reach his quota for statements of offense with false documents.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
The Police Ethics Committee recently decided to suspend for a period of 15 days SPVM agent Pierre-Olivier Guilbault, for having written “a report [d’infraction] which he knew to be false and inaccurate”. We learn, however, that his colleagues who denounced the situation were the target of insults and even “physical violence”, indicates the decision of the Committee made public on August 16.
In 2015, agent Guilbault was struggling to reach the quotas for statements of offense set by his superiors. The young policeman, who had less than two years of experience, said he was not comfortable with the idea of issuing statements of offense to “honest citizens”, can we read in the report.
A colleague, Marie-Ève Lamoureux, offered her help to increase her “yield”.
She therefore wrote a statement of offense in the name of agent Guilbault on February 6, 2015, when he was not present. He had given her his personal information so that she could put her electronic signature on the official document.
In addition to the “false document”, agent Guilbault would have passed in front of the offending vehicle in question without stopping, having however noticed it, indicates the report.
Police officers have independent discretion that does not force them to impose a fine for every violation they notice. Only, “the exercise of discretion must be honest and transparent and be based on valid and reasonable grounds”.
All in all, Agent Guilbault “derogated from his obligation to act with probity”, according to the Committee.
Intimidated for denouncing
On February 8, 2015, two days after the incident, Constable Benoît Boisselle reported to Sergeant Josée Paquette that “Constable Lamoureux boasted of writing statements of offense to improve Constable Guilbault’s performance”.
The patrol team supervisor confirms the incident after consulting the database of the Quebec Police Intelligence Center. She cancels the statement of offense and reports the case to the commander of the post.
An attestation is “presumed to be made under oath” as if the officer were giving oral evidence in court, the report said. “The report is a legal document and not a simple paper. »
Now retired, Sergeant Josée Paquette and Constable Benoît Boisselle were victims of intimidation for having denounced their colleague, indicates the decision of the Committee. Insults by text message were sent to several SPVM stations without their knowledge. Agent Boisselle, former spokesperson for the SPVM, also suffered “physical violence”, we learn without further details. It is unclear whether these actions led to charges or disciplinary action.
“We take any situation of violence or intimidation that may arise in the workplace seriously. When such incidents are reported to the Internal Affairs Department, an investigation is immediately opened, and sanctions could be decreed at the end of the investigation”, indicated the SPVM to The Press.
Agent Guilbault would not have contributed to the acts of intimidation, but “could not ignore them”, considers the Committee in its decision. He said he was “sorry” and pretended not to know the origin of the text messages. According to the Committee, Pierre-Olivier Guilbault could have “appealed for calm” and taken this opportunity to “positively influence his environment”, despite the act committed.
Pierre-Olivier Guilbault and Marie-Ève Lamoureux recognize their faults, specifies the Committee in its decision. Agent Guilbault admitted that it was a strategy to “increase his statistics”. For her part, Constable Lamoureux agreed with the Police Ethics Commissioner on a ten-day suspension without pay.
Recall that the incident was heard before the hearing in October 2021 when Sergeant Paquette had denounced the two agents in 2015, two days after the event. The decision was made public last week, more than seven years later.