The local police model risks disappearing due to inequity in the funding of police services, warns the Fraternity of municipal police officers of Quebec.
The FPMQ finds it unfair that citizens assume the entire cost of their municipal police force and subsidize the services of the Sûreté du Québec in neighboring towns, since towns entitled to SQ services receive a subsidy of 50% of the cost of the service.
Believing that the move to the SQ involves funding from the provincial government, the FPMQ believes that the Sureté du Québec seems to be more interested in a national police model to keep decisions away from municipalities.
“It is completely unfair that municipalities see themselves forced to make decisions regarding public safety based not on the type of service they wish to see on their territories, such as a model of concerted policing, but on the basis completely for economic reasons,” said François Lemay, president of the FPMQ.
The concern of the FPMQ is reinforced by the risk of seeing the municipal police service of Thetford Mines transferred to the provincial police, while the mayor Marc-Alexandre Brousseau continues to seek financial assistance from Quebec to preserve the municipal police.
“Municipalities must be able to choose what they really want as a police model in their community and not have it imposed on them for economic reasons,” added Mr. Lemay.
Reference-www.journaldemontreal.com