Head of police internal affairs won’t face charges

There will be no criminal charges laid against Costa Labos, head of the Montreal police department’s internal affairs division, police Chief Philippe Pichet announced on Friday.

Labos had been under investigation by the Sûreté du Québec because of allegations that he lied to a judge in 2014 to obtain a search warrant against former police officer Roger Larivière.

Pichet says the Montreal force was informed on Friday that the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions has decided not to charge Labos.

“I want to reiterate my full support for chief inspector Labos and all the police officers and citizens who work around the clock to ensure public safety in Montreal,” Pichet said from the force’s headquarters.

Pichet had come under fire by the Montreal Police Brotherhood for not removing Labos from the position while the investigation was ongoing.

“It’s obvious that with an investigation of this nature against him, (Labos) doesn’t have the credibility or legitimacy needed to assume the role,” brotherhood president Yves Francoeur had said in a statement in June.

But Pichet said on Friday that he always had information, which he could not share, that led him to believe that Labos hadn’t done anything wrong.

“I know it wasn’t easy to understand why we weren’t moving him,” Pichet said. “There was pressure and a lot of questioning, but today we know it was the right decision.”

The police chief said he deplores the brotherhood’s “malicious attitude (...) despite not knowing all the details of the situation.”

In a statement released Friday, Francoeur said the brotherhood stands by its stance, even though no charges will be laid.

“The bond of trust between the head of internal affairs and the Montreal police has been broken for a number of reasons,” Francoeur said. “It’s obvious that he should be assigned to a different position.”

Pichet wouldn’t comment on why the allegations were made against Labos, but said that as head of the force’s internal affairs department, Labos finds himself in a very unpopular position.

“He’s in charge of investigating our employees, and he’s been doing that for a little more than six years now,” Pichet said.