Crisis at the SPVM: “This is the worst-case scenario,” says the opposition

Archival Photo Simon Clark

VAT New

Wednesday, 6 December 2017 16:54

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Wednesday, 6 December 2017 16:54

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The spokesman of the official opposition in matters of public safety considers that the appointment of the director of the Sûreté du Québec as interim director of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal is a very bad idea.

The minister of public Safety announced that Martin Prud’homme, director general of the SQ, would now act as interim director of the SPVM, and a provisional administrator.

The mna Pascal Bérubé wished that the minister make an announcement, significantly” among other things, hiring a civilian until the official appointment of another director.

“There was a body of police destabilized, there are now two,”-he said immediately after the joint press conference with the minister Coiteux and the mayor Plant.

According to him, Mr. Prud’homme has been transferred from the SQ up to the SPVM “without worrying about the historic rivalries between the two bodies of police”.

Mr. Bérubé believes that the government should say clearly to Philip Pitcher if you don’t want him. “It’s like in a relationship, if it is a break that it’s announced now,” he said adding that he will never have the same authority.

“This is the worst scenario. It was not a civilian, there is a instability as to the future of Mr. Pitcher, you don’t really want to tell her that we don’t want him for the moment, it leaves room for doubt, it destabilizes the direction of the Sûreté du Québec”, insists the critic.

“As if this would always be the same people, it seems to me that other people can provide the leadership”, he added.

Mr. Bérubé has also made links between the savagery at the SPVM, and those to UPAC so that it wants to become a body of independent police.