Speed of change in police training questioned
The École nationale de police du Québec updates its training programs to ensure that young cadets are equipped to deal with the problems of homelessness and mental illness, but the coroner investigating the fatal police shooting of Alain Magloire wondered whether the changes are happening fast enough.
“We have to act quickly on the ground,” coroner Luc Malouin said, adding that the problem of homelessness is growing in Montreal and Laval.
Malouin made the comment after Paulin Bureau, the director of policing at the police academy in Nicolet, outlined the different types of training aspiring officers receive in dealing with the homeless and those suffering from mental illness. They use role play to carry out simulations and the students are given feedback on their performance. Some of the sessions are filmed so the cadets can see what they did correctly or incorrectly.
He said the academy has made a concerted effort to ramp up training programs where cadets are placed in very stressful situations so they learn to better manage their stress when faced with critical decisions on the street.
Bureau said there is room for improvement in how police deal with the homeless and said that retraining programs are “a work in progress.” He said he is always looking out for new approaches that are used outside of Quebec. It’s up to individual police forces to continue training their officers throughout their careers, but he said the police academy sometimes sends trainers to the different forces to update officers with new police practices.
In Montreal, police officers have been practising how to defuse stressful situations by participating in simulated calls that are observed by coaches who correct their mistakes and offer alternatives. Participation in the simulated calls became mandatory in 2012 and the calls help officers improve their crisis resolution and negotiation skills, said Stéphane Wall, a senior constable who coaches SPVM officers.
Given the police shooting of Magloire and the officers’ inability to defuse the confrontation with Magloire verbally, Malouin suggested that the SPVM offer training that will give patrol officers practice in defusing situations where their lives are threatened.
Magloire, 41, who became homeless after suffering from a mental illness, was shot in February 2014 after threatening police officers with a hammer. He was killed after he attempted to strike an officer who had fallen on the ground near the Berri bus station during a confrontation.
The coroner’s inquest will hear testimony on Wednesday from staff at the CSSS Jeanne Mance, who provide social services to Montreal’s itinerant population.