Laval police are investigating a video that has surfaced on Facebook showing two police cruisers racing in a muddy construction site.
In recent weeks police officers across Quebec have taken to wearing non-uniformed pants and plastering stickers on city vehicles to show their opposition to provincial plans to alter pension plans.
Now Laval police officers have been caught on tape racing squad cars through a construction site and splattering their own vehicles with mud, a move that may have backfired due to the negative response.
In a video taken at a construction site, a Laval police car sits parked in a large puddle as two more squad cars race past, covering the parked car with mud.
Charles Ledoux posted the short video to Facebook on August 1, where a Laval police car sits parked in a large puddle as two more squad cars race past, covering the parked car with mud.
Ledoux said the officers repeated the stunt several times that day -- all in an area where the posted limit is 10 km/h.
“We deplore such a use of our equipment but it seems to be an individual initiative in a context of a labour dispute,” said Andre Pyton, chief inspector of the Laval police.
Ledoux has since removed the video.
Union coalition spokesperson Marc Ranger didn't confirm the muddy incident was a pressure tactic but says since going on strike is illegal, they have to find other means to express their anger.
Angry protest
Meanwhile on Tuesday off-duty police officers held a demonstration in front of Ste. Julie town hall, which is also the office of Suzanne Roy, president of the Union of Muncipalities of Quebec (UMQ).
Mayors across Quebec are in favour of the change proposed by Bill 3, which would see civil servants keep their Defined Benefit plans but see the employee contribution increased to 50 per cent.
“Lately we've been only hearing the mayors and the municipalities of Quebec portraying us as spoiled children and all that, but I have to say something – police officers, instead of putting our raise in our salaries we choose to put that in our pension plan,” said Denis Cote, president of the Quebec municipal police federation (FPMQ).
The FPMQ has also released a new series of print and video ads to protest the pension regime change.
Police officers are opposed to contributing more to their retirement savings, saying that the only reason for shortfalls is because of mismanagement and because corrupt officials were able to divert funds for years without being detected.
Public hearings on Bill 3 will begin Aug. 20. Police plan to increase their protests until then.
