Senior officers pledge support for their chief as Montreal police embroiled in scandal again
Montreal's embattled police chief, whose force is the subject of multiple investigations, held an emergency meeting with more than 100 of his senior officers on Saturday.
The officers emerged from the meeting to reiterate their support for Chief Philippe Pichet, who is facing his second major crisis since taking the helm of the SPVM in 2015.
"We had one primary directive: support our director, Mr. Pichet," Roxane Pitre, who heads an association representing the SPVM's high-ranking officers, said following the meeting.
"We are entirely behind our director."
Pichet called the meeting following the announcement, late Friday afternoon, that the Quebec government would be launching an administrative inquiry into the SPVM.
In making the announcement, Public Security Minister Martin Coiteux said he was concerned about the increasing number of allegations of misconduct against the SPVM's internal affairs division.
Internal affairs division under scrutiny
Earlier in the week, a number of former SPVM officers came forward with allegations that the internal affairs department fabricated evidence against whistleblowers.
Since those initial allegations surfaced, Coiteux said several more worrying cases were brought to his attention by Quebec provincial police.
"This serious new information leads us to believe that above and beyond the specific treatment of certain cases, there may be systemic problems concerning the internal investigative practises of the SPVM," he told reporters Friday.
The Sûreté du Quebec had already been mandated to lead an investigation into the allegations about fabricated evidence, which will run parallel to the administrative inquiry.
Coiteux said Friday that the SQ investigation will be given additional resources.
It will now get help from investigators working with police in Quebec City, Longueuil and Gatineau, as well as from the RCMP. A member of Quebec's independent investigations bureau (BEI) will co-manage the investigation with the SQ.
No jumping ship, Pichet says
On Saturday, Pichet promised to begin drawing up an action plan for restoring confidence in Montreal police, which was one of the demands issued by Coiteux.
"We talked about the situation," Pichet said of the meeting with his officers. "Everyone is very concerned about what's happening right now."
The latest crisis to beset Montreal police comes only a few months after it was forced to defend its decision to monitor the conversations of two journalists with the La Presse newspaper.
Those revelations, along with reports the SQ had also monitored conversations of journalists, has prompted the Quebec government to hold a commission of inquiry into police surveillance of journalists.
At the time, there were calls for Pichet to resign. But Mayor Denis Coderre, who faces reelection later this year, reiterated his support for his police chief.
He offered his support for Pichet again on Friday.
Pichet said neither the mayor, nor the public security minister, has suggested he step down.
"I'm the chief. I'm in the boat. I won't jump," he said.
