We had to act ‘strongly and swiftly’: Coiteux
After damning report, minister suspends SPVM chief Pichet
Quebec’s Public Security Minister Martin Coiteux has suspended Montreal’s chief of police Philippe Pichet in the wake of a damning report outlining serious irregularities and shortcomings in the Montreal police force’s internal affairs division.
At a news conference in Montreal Wednesday, Coiteux made public the 96-page report of a nine-month investigation by former deputy justice minister Michel Bouchard into the Internal Affairs Division of the SPVM, a report Coiteux has had in hand since Nov. 30.
The report reveals: Several criminal allegations against SPVM police officers since 2010 that should have been investigated by the division were not investigated and were not reported to the ministry, as required by law.
Several officers suspected of misconduct were given preferential treatment by the directors of the internal affairs division.
Several investigations were botched and significant evidence was deliberately removed from reports to keep certain officers from being charged or from facing disciplinary action.
Coiteux suspended Pichet, with pay, effective Wednesday, and named Sûreté du Québec director Martin Prud’homme as interim police chief and interim administrator of the SPVM over the next year.
Prud’homme, a former deputy minister of public security who has been in charge of the SQ for the past three years, is now tasked with correcting what Coiteux described as a “very worrisome situation” in the SPVM’s internal affairs division.
Coiteux said he decided to suspend Pichet because “a series of things led to the conclusion that we had a systemic and very, very serious problem that needed drastic improvement and drastic, significant changes.
“And the question was whether the current management of the SPVM had the capacity and the willingness to bring those changes to the organization. The conclusion of Mr. Bouchard is that the current management does not show that kind of willingness and that kind of capacity. So we had to intervene and we had to intervene strongly and swiftly.”
Coiteux added that even in the face of these exceptional measures, Montrealers should have confidence in their police force. “It is clear that city of Montreal police officers do an excellent job and place the people of Montreal at the heart of their interventions.”
Pichet told TVA Nouvelles he had learned of his suspension through media reports, and had received no phone call from provincial authorities. He was convened to a meeting with Montreal director general Alain Marcoux and informed of the suspension shortly before Coiteux made his announcement. Pichet told TVA he would hold a news conference after the minister’s, but changed his mind and decided to make no comment.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante attended Coiteux’s press conference and echoed his reassurance that day-to-day police services will not be affected by the trouble at the top.
“This crisis has been going on for a long time and that has a big impact on Montrealers and how they trust their police officers, and that’s too bad because they do an amazing job every day,” Plante said. “It’s too bad that (Pichet) was not able to … solve the problems and bring back the trust. But this is the right thing to do … We want to make sure we can change some of the organizational culture so the trust in our police (service) comes back.”
Coiteux was asked why he did not immediately fire Pichet, considering the serious shortcomings outlined in the report.
Suspending Pichet is a first step, Coiteux said.
“We can’t skip any steps. The suspension permits us to begin the work of an interim administration. There is information that I will receive thanks to that interim administrator, and we will decide whether this suspension will lead to a definitive dismissal or something else. In the meantime, the city will be able to begin the work of finding a successor.”
He said that for now, Prud’homme will act as both interim administrator and interim chief of police, but it is possible that Prud’homme will continue as interim administrator, even after a new police chief is named.
Some names, dates and facts are blacked out in the copy of the Bouchard report that was made public Wednesday. But in his conclusion, Bouchard recommends his findings be submitted in their entirety to the Justice Department and other authorities, so investigations can be properly completed where evidence was illegally withheld by the department.
Bouchard also recommends the law that governs policing in the province be amended to:
Give the independent investigations office (BEI) the exclusive power to investigate or name a third party to investigate any criminal act suspected to have been committed by a police officer.
Give the same office the exclusive mandate to receive complaints from anyone alleging a criminal act by a police officer.
Oblige any police chief in Quebec to transmit to the BEI any information or complaint related to the allegation of a criminal act by a police officer.
The report also recommends that any decision on the dismissal of a police officer be taken by a committee that is independent of the police service that employs the officer.
Pichet, named to head the 4,000-member department in 2015 by then-mayor Denis Coderre, has seen his stewardship of the force marked by controversy. The chief defended a decision by the department to spy on the cellphone communications of La Presse columnist Patrick Lagacé, a move that led the provincial government to create a commission of inquiry on the protection of journalists’ sources. The furor over the Lagacé issue led Yves Francoeur, head of the union representing Montreal police officers, to say Pichet no longer possessed “the necessary legitimacy” to head the force.
Pichet also fired his chief of staff last October after the Sûreté du Québec raided Montreal police headquarters as part of a fraud and breach of trust investigation of overtime claims and bonuses.
Prud’homme will be replaced as SQ chief by his deputy director Yves Morency for the remainder of Prud’homme’s current mandate. Coiteux said it was important to name someone as interim chief of the SPVM who had no ambition to be named chief in the long-term. Prud’homme will return to his post as SQ director after his one-year mandate with the SPVM. The government also decreed Wednesday that Prud’homme’s mandate as SQ director will be extended to 2022.