Suspended police chief resigning, drops lawsuit
Suspended Montreal police Chief Philippe Pichet has given up his battle to get his job back.
Pichet has agreed to give up his former position as police chief and will remain in the city’s employ as chief inspector for the Service de police de la ville de Montréal (SPVM), Mayor Valérie Plante announced Tuesday.
He is also abandoning a lawsuit he had launched against the city of Montreal and Quebec’s public security department demanding his reinstatement and contesting his suspension last December.
Plante said Pichet and outgoing city manager Alain Marcoux negotiated the settlement hours before she announced it Tuesday morning.
“Clearly, he was not the person best placed to be police chief with what was going on at the SPVM, but the fact remains that he is a man who has given a great deal of service to the police force,” she said. Despite the demotion, “we are not questioning the work Mr. Pichet has done over the years within the SPVM and even the Bouchard report (which resulted in his suspension) does not raise questions over Mr. Pichet’s competence, but only (whether he was right for) the title and the job that he held.”
Pichet is going back to a position he held in 2013-2014 before being appointed assistant director in 2014 and police chief in 2015 by then-mayor Denis Coderre.
“Mr. Pichet’s contribution will unquestionably benefit the SPVM given his vast and deep knowledge of Montreal’s police force, his professionalism and his indisputable passion for public service,” Plante said in a statement.
The settlement came as Montreal city council was about to vote on Pichet’s dismissal. Last week, the city’s public security committee voted unanimously to recommend Pichet’s dismissal, a recommendation approved by the executive committee last Wednesday.
The opposition Ensemble Montréal party said Monday evening it would vote in favour of Pichet’s dismissal, even though it said the ex-chief should have gotten a public hearing rather than appearing behind closed doors before the public security committee.
Pichet was initially suspended by Quebec Public Security Minister Martin Coiteux in December following a damning report of Pichet’s handling of the police force. The report was the result of a nine-month investigation by former deputy justice minister Michel Bouchard.
The report revealed that several criminal allegations against SPVM officers had not been investigated or reported to the provincial public security department, and that the force shielded some officers from disciplinary action.
In early June, a second highly critical report was published, this time by interim police chief Martin Prud’homme, which resulted in Coiteux’s decision to begin proceedings to dismiss him. He asked Montreal city council to provide recommendations on Pichet’s dismissal, a step required by the city ’s charter. In his lawsuit, Pichet had claimed that he was never given any explanation for his suspension and that he was never contacted by the public security minister with concerns.
Prud’homme, currently on leave from his role as head of the Sûreté du Québec, with a contract that runs until 2022, said last week he is potentially open to continuing to lead the SPVM after his mandate expires at the end of the year.