Access commission dismisses Gazette’s appeal to see police

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Quebec’s access to information commission dismissed an appeal by the Montreal Gazette to see $ 1.5 million in spending claims that the Montreal police department labeled “petty cash” over a two-year period.

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In a 19-page ruling, Administrative Judge Marc-Aurèle Racicot accepted the police department’s argument that the expenditures dated from 2014 to 2016 were related to its role in preventing, detecting and suppressing crime and that disclosing its content – including the dates, nature, and amounts of the expenses – would likely hamper a future or ongoing investigation, reveal an investigation method, reveal a confidential source, and endanger a person’s safety.

“A simple date associated with an amount or description of an expense could easily alert an individual involved and therefore jeopardize a carefully planned action plan,” says the ruling, dated November 22.

“Disclosure of even the smallest detail or information in relation to these activities is likely to put the organization’s operations at risk, as well as the safety of the people involved.”

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The newspaper submitted two access requests in 2016 after finding two police department accounts labeled “petty cash” in the city of Montreal’s Vue sur les contrats municipal contracts database. More than 200 “petty cash” entries from the police ranged from $ 2,000 to $ 524,937.50.

The Montreal Gazette is examining whether to appeal the ruling, the newspaper’s lawyer, Mark Bantey, said Monday.

The newspaper “has never taken the position of having the right to see confidential elements of ongoing police investigations,” he said.

“However, he is disappointed that he cannot have access to general information about how taxpayers’ money is being spent, for example how much informants are paid in a given year or how much is spent on drugs for undercover operations.”

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While details such as quantity or date may seem trivial when taken in isolation, Racicot says in the ruling, “in a particular context, when associated with other information, they can reveal a more global portrait and much more sensitive information through the cross-reference of information or by means of the mosaic effect “.

Police Inspector Caroline Cournoyer testified before the Access Commission in June that Montreal police once used a small metal box labeled petty cash to pay for out-of-pocket expenses. He said his department later used the term “petty cash” for expenses incurred as part of daily and special police operations, from postage stamps and parking meters to paying police informants and buying undercover drugs.

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