Returning to work after an extended sick leave, on Saturday Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre responded to controversies that have followed the city’s police department for the past several weeks.
“First of all, keep the faith,” he said. “We have a tremendous police force. If there’s some rotten apples or issues, we have a process. It’s not a kangaroo court here.”
Coderre said Montrealers should wait for all the facts to emerge before expecting any action. In February, several SPVM officers went public with allegations that they had been victims of a smear campaign by the internal affairs division after raising concerns over the legality of investigations into organized crime.
The mayor has been out sick since Feb. 28, taking time to recuperate from a case of prostatitis. During that time, the SPVM’s deputy director of the strategic division, Bernard Lamothe, was suspended. The exact reason for that suspension has not been made public but SPVM chief Philippe Pichet said new information had come to light.
Before his sick leave, Coderre said he Pichet had “all my support,” and that “the vast majority of people at the SPVM do their work professionally.”
