Montreal Gazette

SPVM transfers internal affairs investigat­ions to SQ

- KATHERINE WILTON

With its internal affairs department under fire, Montreal police Chief Philippe Pichet has decided to transfer all ongoing internal affairs investigat­ions to the Sûreté du Québec. In an email sent to the force’s 5,000 officers and employees, Pichet said he was transferri­ng the investigat­ions “for the sake of transparen­cy.”

The force has been under the microscope since the TVA network aired interviews last week with former members of the Montreal police who allege they were victims of fabricated evidence generated by the department’s internal affairs division in order to silence them on allegation­s of internal corruption. Pichet’s move “was a good decision given the circumstan­ces,” said Yves Francoeur, head of the Montreal police brotherhoo­d.

Pichet had requested last week that the SQ investigat­e the allegation­s.

But on Friday, Public Security Minister Martin Coiteux revealed he had received several other allegation­s and expanded the investigat­ion to include investigat­ors from the RCMP and other police forces. The broadened investigat­ion will 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 that launched last year.

Coiteux also ordered a separate administra­tive probe into the force.

In the TVA interview, 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.

Pichet held an emergency meeting on Saturday with his senior officers to discuss the investigat­ions into the internal affairs department. The police director said he has no intention of resigning. Pichet was not giving interviews on Tuesday.

 ??  ?? Philippe Pichet
Philippe Pichet

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