(Quebec) Government-provided guidelines for monitoring police arrests could be “potentially politicized.”
Posted at 7:04 p.m
Patrice Bergeron The Canadian Press
As a result, the Quebec Police Commissioners’ Association (ADPQ) on Wednesday expressed its concerns over Bill 14, currently under consideration, which would threaten police independence.
Indeed, in one article of this piece of legislation, the government intends to regulate police arrests with guidelines yet to be defined, following a Supreme Court ruling in October condemning this type of interference in procedures linked to racial profiling.
But in a parliamentary committee on Wednesday afternoon, the director of the ADPQ, Pierre Brochet, expressed serious reservations: It would be the first time that the Ministry of Public Security’s power to issue directives would be expanded, he proposed.
“We would enter into investigations or police operations by telling directors and police services how to do things, that’s my concern,” the senior police official told Public Security Minister François Bonnardel.
He fears a minister will step in, headlines of the moment say.
“Depending on media pressure or media crisis, some governments may be tempted to implement policies through policies. »
Mr Brochet spoke of the student crisis of 2012 when the government at the time was under pressure.
“Would the government then have been tempted to issue guidelines to the police to calm things down? »
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, LA PRESSE ARCHIVE
Director of the Quebec Police Commissioners’ Association, Pierre Brochet
Or if there is a dramatic incident where police use force, the government might be tempted to ban the method used without analysis or study.
The police must be independent, their credibility and that of the judiciary depend on it, pleaded the president of the ADPQ. If the government wants to enforce its guidelines in its draft law, the ADPQ insists on being involved in their development.
The APDQ also wants to keep up the police arrests. The organization notes that 40% to 60% of arrests for incapacity to drive are made under Section 636 of the Highway Safety Code, which allows the officer to authorize “the driver of a road vehicle to immobilize his vehicle.” It is this article that Superior Court Judge Michel Yergeau invalidated in October, a decision that Quebec is appealing.
Furthermore, regarding the arbitrary stopping of pedestrians, the ADPQ claims that this practice is already impossible.
The arrest cannot be arbitrary because a police officer must have “reasons” and “suspicion” to act, argued Mr Brochet.
However, the ADPQ acknowledged that any policy could help put an end to racial profiling.
“That would be a big step forward,” concluded the association’s president.
On Tuesday, the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) argued that legislation would not be enough to end racial profiling.
For its part, the Montreal Police Officers’ Union warned Minister François Bonnardel against overly strict policy frameworks that would jeopardize public safety and the fight against street gangs.
Remember that last October Judge Yergeau ordered an end to indiscriminate wiretapping because it is a real cause of racial profiling and because violating the rights of victims is no longer tolerable.
The judge concluded that police forces cannot eliminate profiling unless they are prevented from making arrests at any time.
After evidence showing that “Black people are arrested at least twice as often as white people,” the judge concluded that “racial profiling does exist” and that it “is a reality that weighs heavily on black communities.”
In addition, the judge felt that he had not been shown that arbitrary arrests made it possible to improve the road safety record.