Illegal pressure tactics led Laval police to ignore calls about attempted suicide, tribunal finds

The attempted suicide of a minor who said a family friend had sexually assaulted her repeatedly was among numerous calls ignored by Laval police investigators as part of a recent campaign of pressure tactics, Quebec's labour tribunal has found.

The tribunal has ruled those tactics were illegal.

The ruling stems from a complaint lodged by the City of Laval that claimed Laval residents were put at risk and deprived of their rights because police in the investigations and identification units were not taking calls outside of their regularly scheduled hours.

A list of officers available outside their scheduled hours is usually available, but that list was withdrawn as part of pressure tactics in a continuing labour dispute between Laval police and the city.

Police have been without a contract for three years.

The city also alleged that police response times had slowed noticeably since Dec. 1.

Calls about suicide attempt left unanswered

The tribunal found officers were deliberately delaying their response to calls and pointed to one incident last weekend when police intervention was required in an attempted suicide involving two minors.

One of them claimed she had been sexually assaulted repeatedly by a family friend who had threatened to kill her if she spoke about it.

The tribunal found that investigators ignored texts and calls from a superior about the incident for more than four hours, and provincial police were eventually called instead.

The head of the police brotherhood, the union representing the officers, said a lack of resources was to blame, not the officers.

The tribunal ordered the police brotherhood to cease all illegal pressure tactics and to resume usual response times.