Montreal Police Corruption...What Else is New?

SPVM Professionalism...Having sex with drunk girl in cruiser BRAVO!

Back in the day, provincial snow removal contracts were awarded to politically allied firms thus giving birth to "blue" companies and "red" companies with contracts changing hands not based on the lowest bid, but rather based  on affiliations with the government of the day.

While the practice may no longer exist, it does so in the Suréte du Quebec, the provincial police where the chief is routinely replaced when governments change, all this without too much complaint from the media or non-existent watchdog groups.

In fact the Suréte has always been a political organization that not only enforces the law, but represents the interests of the government of the day.
The idea that they have been tasked to investigate the Montreal police over the latest accusations of  misconduct and corruption is patently absurd.
Whatever the investigation reveals, it will go through a political process where behind closed doors, the report will be tailored to the government needs.
It is the very essence of a non-impartial inquiry.

As for the SQ's ability desire to carry out this investigation fairly, nothing could be further from the truth. Do you really believe the SQ is going to take down its sister police force, knowing full well that what goes around, comes around, and that they themselves are just as corrupt as the SPVM?
Let us remember that the Suréte du Quebec has been recently rocked by corruption scandals itself,  and this at the highest levels including a one-time directer. LINK

If this SQ investigation is to proceed, it will no doubt conclude that there are but a few bad apples in the  SPVM, suckers who will be scapegoated and sacrificed with nary a finding of systemic corruption.

By the way back in 2002 the SQ investigated now-convicted ex-Laval mayor Gilles Vaillencourt over corruption allegations and found nothing. Either investigators were complete idiots or they were bought off, or called off by superiors, at the behest of the SQ's political masters.

"A couple of years ago, one of the SQ's investigation on the FTQ went sideways, because someone inside the SQ informed the Charest government of the investigation. And someone inside Charest's circle told the FTQ. All the targets who were under electronic surveillance stopped talking to each other, and the investigation had to be forcibly aborted. The SQ never investigated where the leak came from within the SQ, nor did they investigate who leaked within the PLQ to the FTQ. What they did investigate however, by request of the PLQ, was to find the source of the journalist who revealed all this in the Journal de Montreal" Link 

As for corruption in the Montreal police force, it is a no-brainer. A police force that is unprofessional, undisciplined and racist is surely corrupt.
Now I don't say the above lightly.
First and foremost the clown-costumes that the police wear to protest contract issues says a lot about attitudes in the department.  Disrespecting the uniform is disrespecting themselves and the public they serve. It is as stupid as a petulant child who tells her parents that she will hold her breath until she gets her way. Really?
As for racism, a Black teenager is about seven times as likely as a white teenager of being rousted by the Montreal police. The Black community is the favourite target of the SPVM with officers targeting it without mercy.  Only seven percent of the SPVM is made up of visible minorities, this in a city where 32% of the population is non-white.

Let us consider what the SPVM is accused of, that is of having the Internal Affairs department plant phony evidence on whistle-blowers and drumming them out of the service before any names could be named and embarrassing disclosure aired in public. To this end, the department went so far as to wiretap journalists, in an attempt to find out who of them might be leaking information about corruption. In order to get the warrants to place these wiretaps, it is alleged that the police lied to the judges about the circumstances.
In an internal report meant to tarnish the reputation of one whistle-blower, the Internal Affairs department noted that the target officer was in fact the godfather to the child of a well-known mafiosi, an unacceptable connection. Comically, but sadly it was later revealed that this particular mafiosi didn't even have children!
Such were the set-ups.

But the Internal Affairs department had to be instructed to undertake these attacks at the behest of someone upstairs and this is where the real investigation should go, but likely won't happen.
It is like charging a hit man with murder without ever investigating who hired the shooter.
And by the way that "hit man" is  Costa Labos, who headed the Internal Affairs department and under whose leadership the malfeasance occurred. He has already been demoted and will likely take the fall soon enough for this whole affair. Ironically, he himself will be drummed out.

I watched the investigative television show (J.E) that exposed the scandal over the Internal Affairs department and it was a pretty damning affair.
The current boss of the SPVM, Philippe Pichet wasn't exactly reassuring when asked on that show if his department fabricated evidence.
"Not to my knowledge" was the response  and we all know what that phrase means.

The SPVM is in crisis and the rank and file know it. A petition is circulating within the department with signers demanding changes. It is a serious affair.

I don't often agree with PQ leader Jean-François Lisée but he was bang on when he declared that "The Sureté du Quebec should not be trusted to investigate the Montreal police"

"The PQ is arguing police should not investigate police, and the inquiry should instead be carried out by the Independent Bureau of Investigators, which was mandated to step in on investigations involving police.

Public Security Minister Martin Coiteux, however, said the SQ is perfectly capable of doing the job because they have the expertise required.
He said he believes the provincial police department is independent enough to investigate their Montreal colleagues and that they will use outside expertise from the Crown prosecutor's office and even the RCMP if necessary. 
Coiteux does not to see a possible conflict of interest of having one police force investigate another." Link

Public Security Minister Martin Coiteux is no dummy and he certainly knows right from wrong. Having the SQ investigate the SPVM just plain stinks and he knows it.

For now the government is sticking to its guns that the SQ can investigate the SPVM fairly, but the pressure is mounting. This morning a quick poll revealed that 81% of the public want an independent investigation.
The opposition parties are mounting a furious attack and before long, the government will cave and consign the investigation where it belongs, the Independent Bureau of Investigators.

Look for several cops to take early retirement rather than face the music, but the Montreal police need more than a few retirements or firings to set things right.
The department needs a major shakeup at the middle to higher ranks. And the issue of pressure tactics like clown uniforms needs to be addressed.
Somebody needs to step in to seriously right the ship at the SPVM, but don't count on it.