Maybe it’s time to cut the police a bit of slack
For years — decades, really — we’ve grown accustomed to a climate of pervasive animosity between citizens and the Montreal police force. A few months ago, I was standing at the corner of Aylmer and Ste-Catherine Sts. and crossed on a red light, albeit after making sure there was no oncoming traffic. As I walked in front of the Bay, a police officer interrupted me to inform me that I had jaywalked and was getting a ticket.
I’ll admit that I was annoyed — “but there were no cars within 200 metres!” I wanted to protest — but I took the ticket, thanked him grudgingly, and joked that he was well-hidden for someone not wearing camouflage pants.
Afterward, I complained to friends about it. “It was a trap!” I said. The officer was hidden and knew people would jaywalk because of the dearth of traffic at that particular intersection.
Then it dawned on me: I was part of the problem. We’ve become so accustomed to casting the SPVM in a negative light, as a police corps that is to be distrusted, that when we get written up for legitimately breaking the law, it is “unwarranted” and the result of officers “trying to hit quotas,” or the byproduct of some perverse reverse-charm offensive designed to pit citizens against politicians. This is where we’ve sunk to. But why?
I can’t help but think about the last few decades, the ones I grew up in. The SPVM has consistently been cast in this negative light: police shootings, charges of racial profiling and the whole camouflage pants fiasco made the SPVM an easy target. But amid the recent news about the institutionalized problems at the SPVM, maybe it’s time we cut the actual cops — you know, the ones giving out tickets and doing actual police work — some slack.
Detractors will argue that good cops should be focusing on more serious things, like stamping out corruption, organized crime or drugs, rather than jaywalking and speeding. But then you venture into a neighbourhood like Ville-Marie’s Sainte-Marie— Saint-Jacques.
It’s an eclectic neighbourhood, to say the least. It’s home to Université du Québec à Montréal, the Gay Village, St-Denis St.’s myriad bars and restaurants, rampant drug use and prostitution, a large homeless population and a number of shelters, but also increasingly young, upwardly mobile residents living in new or refinished buildings. Oh, and the newly minted CHUM.
It typifies the difficult balancing act that police officers must carry out in the face of the city’s transformation and the gentrification of certain neighbourhoods.
But where do you start when you’re trying to get all of the above to live harmoniously together? By making sure that people cross the street when they’re supposed to, that they obey speed limits, and that they put their garbage out at the right time. Because when those things are taken care of, the SPVM can dedicate more officers to complex issues like homelessness and drug trafficking.
Maybe, just maybe, it’s time to hit the reset button with the city’s police officers. Nobody is saying that getting a ticket is fun, but it’s like going to the dentist. It’s a necessary step that helps stop further decay.
But do you know what’s less fun? Getting demonized for doing your job while having to deal with deeply flawed institutional management. It’s OK to have gripes about the way the SPVM is managed — or not managed — but that shouldn’t give us an excuse to vilify the actual police officers who are doing their best to make Montreal better for all us.
So the next time one of us gets a ticket — for jaywalking, or speeding, or littering, or putting out our garbage the night before — think about the mountainous challenge facing the SPVM in our complex city. Smile, and thank the officer. They’re just trying to help us help ourselves, and, after decades of animosity, maybe it’s time we helped them a little.