Safety on the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) subway is an important issue, while certain stations are a concern for their users.
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The director of safety and fire protection at the Société de Transport de Montréal, Jocelyn Latulippe, is quick to point out to the Dossiers en cours program that the subway is a special space that, simply by its configuration, has a remarkable impact on perception, that users can have.
“The subway is an underground space, it is a closed space. If you take the realities we have in the subway and put them in an open space – in a park, on the street – you will miss them and probably not even notice them,” he explains.
The Montreal Metro also has a distinctive architecture, partly inspired by the brutalist style of the second half of the 20th century, which can have a significant impact on users’ sense of security.
“In an enclosed underground space and in an environment decorated in a 1970s style, it can certainly be intimidating to come into contact with a homeless person, a person who may be drunk,” admits Herr. Latulippe, who says he wants to work on users’ sense of security.
“We will soon introduce different tools and approaches because we are aware that it is about the feeling of security. But this is also about perception, so it’s difficult to work on it […] But we will be there in the right place at the right time in an innovative way,” he promises.
Agents from the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) ensure security in the subway, but that’s not all, as many special police officers are deployed on the 71 kilometers of the Montreal subway.
It is precisely the role of the latter that will change, as new tools, namely cayenne pepper in gel form, will soon be added to their telescopic stick.
Special constables have “peace officer mandates, but that is not the requirement.” “The most important thing for us is customer service, it is the people approach and when the need arises they will reach into their toolbox to look for their powers as peace officers,” specifies Mr. Latulippe, who does not want to see any escalation of conflicts.
For all the details, listen to the full interview with Jocelyn Latulippe in the video at the top of the article.