Montreal police obsessed with plugging leaks, inquiry hears

Discussions with reporters no longer routine

MONTREAL • Denis Mainville had served more than 30 years with the Montreal police and was head of the major crimes unit when in 2014 he made a mistake that would bring an early end to his career: he met with a journalist.

Another investigator noticed the meeting — hard to miss considering it took place in Mainville’s glassdoored office — and reported it to police internal affairs, suspecting Mainville was the source of a La Presse scoop about the case of a speeding undercover police officer who crashed into a car, leading to the death of a fiveyear-old child.

Mainville was investigated criminally for breach of trust but never charged. He denied leaking any confidential information but was suspended 10 days for disregarding internal policy concerning contact with the media. After being shuffled to a different job, he took early retirement, referring in a letter to the police chief to the “hysteria” created by his meeting with the reporter.

The incident is part of the picture emerging at a Quebec public inquiry into the police surveillance of journalists against him.

Not long ago, it was routine for investigators to talk to reporters without fear of reprisal. Patrice Carrier, the investigator who reported Mainville’s meeting with the reporter to superiors, told the inquiry Friday that times have changed. What used to be considered “normal discussions” are now considered “leaks,” he said.

The inquiry heard last week that 37 officers were investigated as possible sources of the 2014 leak concerning the child’s death, but the leaker was never identified. Montreal police had been called in to investigate the fatal accident because the driver was a provincial police officer. The leak came as Crown prosecutors declined to charge the officer. The Justice Minister intervened following a public outcry, and the officer was charged with dangerous driving causing death in 2015.

Concern about leaks from within the Montreal police persisted, and in January 2016, the internal affairs unit crafted an investigation plan to root out the culprits.

The plan, filed as evidence at the inquiry, was named “Project Spy,” and it set the table for the police to track the cellphone of La Presse reporter Patrick Lagacé later that spring. The investigation was prompted by stories in La Presse about a briefcase stolen from a police commander’s car and about defective bulletproof vests that were hobbling the tactical squad.

Lagacé had not written either story, but a warrant was obtained to monitor his phone after police learned he was in frequent contact with one of their suspected leakers, Fayçal Djeledi.

The internal affairs investigators intended to plant false information with police officers to see whether it was leaked to the media. They also planned to enlist an RCMP undercover officer. Under a section on obtaining warrants for electronic surveillance, the report notes that journalists use applications to encrypt data. “The use of wiretapping will be evaluated in this context,” the report says.

The report talks of “serious infractions” and envisions criminal charges against those responsible, but the inquiry heard that the internal affairs officers’ investigative skills were lacking at times.

In an affidavit used to obtain records of who was phoning and texting Lagacé, Normand Borduas of internal affairs cited for the judge examples of Djeledi’s frequent media contacts. Among the phone numbers was one for Cogeco radio.

The lawyer for La Presse, while cross-examining Borduas May 18, revealed that the Cogeco number was the station’s phone-in number, and at the hour Djeledi called it, it would have been to talk sports with the popular host Ron Fournier.

Asked by the lawyer whether it bothered him to have submitted the sports hotline number as evidence for a warrant to spy on journalists, Borduas said no. The inquiry continues this week, with testimony expected from current police chief Philippe Pichet and his predecessor Marc Parent.