Call for independent probe into force
Quebec Solidaire is calling for an independent inquiry into corruption in Montreal’s police force, saying the beefed-up investigation by provincial police announced Friday by Public Security Minister Martin Coiteux is not enough.
“The two investigations announced by the minister do not meet the requirements of independence and transparency to restore confidence in the leadership of the SPVM,” Mercier MP Amir Khadir said in a statement Saturday.
Khadir accused the government of going into damage control rather than trying to get to the bottom of multiple allegations against the city’s police department.
Khadir said it has been amply proven in the past that having police investigate the police does not work.
“We have no reason to believe that this one by the SQ into the SPVM will give any better results,” Khadir said.
“We’re convinced that sooner or later, a completely independent commissioner will recognize the political responsibilities that have led to the deplorable situation of the SPVM leadership since at least Yvan Delorme (Montreal’s police chief from 2005-2010),” the opposition MNA said.
Coiteux announced Friday he would broaden the investigation into the Montreal force’s internal workings and launch a separate administrative probe.
Late Thursday, the Sûreté du Québec informed the minister of allegations that were so numerous, serious and complex that Coiteux decided to add investigators from the RCMP, Quebec City, Longueuil and Gatineau police forces to the SQ team. The investigation will now be co-directed by SQ assistant director general Yves Morency and Madeleine Giauque, the head of the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes (BEI), an independent police-oversight agency set up in 2013.
The investigation will be looking into allegations by two former SPVM officers revealed in a TVA report Tuesday. Jimmy Cacchione and Giovanni Di Feo said they had been ousted from the police service in 2014 because they were about to blow the whistle on corruption allegations that would have hurt the reputation of then police chief Marc Parent and other high-ranking officers. They alleged that the Montreal police internal affairs division made up incriminating evidence to discredit them and justify their dismissal.
A third officer, Roger Larivière, told TVA his home and office were searched by Montreal police officers in 2014, shortly after he met with a journalist at a Montreal restaurant. A report in Le Devoir Thursday suggested SQ investigators had spotted Larivière in the restaurant and reported the meeting to the SPVM’s internal affairs unit.
More allegations surfaced after Coiteux announced an investigation by an SQ team.
“At the beginning of the week we thought we had two or three cases to investigate,” Coiteux said at Friday’s news conference. “Last night, it was confirmed to me the number and complexity of cases is increasing.
“This serious new information leads us to believe that above and beyond the specific treatment of certain cases, there may be systemic problems concerning the internal investigative practices of the SPVM,” he said.