Cop vs.
pseudo-cop

>> Police union wants to take over suburban patrols

by KRISTIAN GRAVENOR

Police brotherhood boss Yves Francoeur is no fan of the public security officers that patrol 17 of the 27 island boroughs. “A lot of information that should be getting to the police just isn’t getting here because people complain to these agents first,” he says. “These security agents are constantly getting involved in affairs that are meant to be police business. There are all kinds of horror stories that often end up with a police officer standing around a hospital with a crime victim and a security agent who forgot to call the police. There’s no more crime scene to investigate and no witnesses to track down.”

A municipal committee of various experts is pondering the future of the security patrols for an upcoming report that could dictate the fate of the teams of unarmed agents created by the former municipalities to patrol suburban areas. The unarmed agents are meant to complement the duties of police officers. They can give parking tickets, but not moving infractions. They cannot arrest citizens but they can detain a suspect until police arrive.

Francoeur wants the agents, who earn roughly $45,000 a year, compared to an average $65,000 per Montreal police officer, brought under the command of the Montreal police. He says that internal studies have shown that “80 per cent of the work they do could be done by the police,” and also questions their qualifications. “These security forces are hired by contract and the lowest bidder wins, so you can imagine that the quality of service isn’t the first thing on their mind.”

One who disagrees is Richard McEnroe, chairman of the Public Security Directors Association as well as the chief of the Westmount patrol, which he joined at its inception in 1980. “Our agents have a police DEC, a First Responders Course, a class 4 driver’s license-exactly the same qualifications as police officers,” he says. McEnroe describes public security patrols as the “eyes and ears of the police.” In Westmount, the squad responds to 6,000 calls a year, costing $1.6-million of the total $52-million in the old city’s budget. “We know the streets, lanes and addresses. We’re on a first-name basis with a lot of people and we know who’s who in the community.”

In Pointe Claire, the 10-year-old public security squad cost taxpayers half-a-million of the previous city’s $82-million budget, according to former mayor Bill McMurchie. Like many, he opposes the suggestion that the agents be put under control of the Montreal police. “The advantage is that these agents enforce municipal bylaws,” he says. “They’re on the street, they’re visible, they’re in marked vehicles and in uniform, and in direct contact with the police department. If you can equate the presence of authority to reduction of crime, I think it stands to reason that they’re helping.”

Westmount borough council chairman Karin Marks says that a survey conducted in the late ’90s indicates that the patrols were the service that residents appreciated above all others. The patrols “fill in the roles that police don’t have the time or staff to take care of,” she says. “Every community has ways of serving their community needs. We feel the service should continue to be related to the communities and needs they have.” :