Montreal opposition demands moratorium on police station closings

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Montreal’s municipal opposition is calling on the city to respect its commitment not to close any more police stations before holding public consultations on the issue.

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The demand comes after Police Chief Sylvain Caron said Thursday that an undisclosed number of stations must close if the force is to rein in ballooning costs.

“I don’t believe in the present structure anymore,” he told a city hall committee studying Montreal’s 2022 budget, adding that Montreal police need to develop “a new model” that is more efficient and cost-effective.

The proposal follows a storm of controversy in 2020 over the closing of Station 11 in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce , which was merged with Station 9 in Côte-St-Luc despite stiff opposition from local residents.

“Last year, they merged the stations in NDG and Côte-St-Luc without any consultation,” opposition councilor Stéphanie Valenzuela charged in an interview Tuesday.

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“We still get complaints from residents saying it doesn’t make sense that they have to go to Côte-St-Luc,” added Valenzuela, who represents the Darlington district.

She will second an opposition motion at the Jan. 24 council meeting calling on the city to maintain a moratorium on station closings.

In 2019, Montreal police closed Station 24 in Outremont, relocating officers to Station 26 in Côte-des-Neiges. It has also decided to shutter Station 31 in Villeray, which will be merged into Station 33 in Parc-Extension.

While giving a presentation to the standing committee on finance and administration on the police department’s $724-million budget, Caron said more of the island’s 30 stations need to close because it is too costly to staff and maintain them.

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Public security is Montreal’s largest expense, accounting for 17.7 per cent of the city’s $6.46-billion budget.

Caron said the force will present a plan to cut stations to Montreal’s public security committee later this year.

Mayor Valérie Plante said Tuesday she was pleased that the police chief was looking at ways to be more cost-efficient.

“What I find interesting is that the police chief is bringing forward proposals and solutions to maximize and reevaluate police services and how to make them more effective and productive,” she said at a virtual news conference.

“I see it as a positive that they are considering (rising costs) at Montreal police, especially in the current context of an unfortunate increase in the number of incidents involving firearms,” she added.

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But Plante said there are no plans to close other stations for the moment and any such move would be carefully considered before being implemented.

In December 2020, city council unanimously adopted a motion vowing to consult local residents on any station closings, to establish a moratorium on future closings aside from those of Stations 31 and 33 and to mandate Montreal’s public security committee to hold public consultations before implementing any closings or mergers.

In the 1990s, the city vastly expanded the number of police stations in an effort to promote “community policing,” designed to bring police officers closer to local residents.

But the police department has argued in recent years that having more local stations does not necessarily improve neighborhood policing since staffing them means fewer boots on the ground.

Caron argued last week that police officers need to be out on the street and that reducing stations gives the force the flexibility to deploy them where needed.

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