Some 900 police officers gathered outside Montreal city hall Monday night to protest $35 million in budget cuts they say are crippling the force.
The police union is criticizing the Tremblay administration for letting go 140 temporary police officers.
When they call for police, they call for help and it always takes too much time, and Tremblay is still letting us go," says Officer Jason Lalle Dumas. "It doesn't make sense."
"Having to work with only four cops in LaSalle during night shifts and stuff like this it's pretty hard, says Jean-Pierre Brabant. "It affects everyone of us."
The young recruits will no longer have jobs come September, despite traditionally earning permanent positions within a year or so, as older officers retire.
Those positions are not being replaced, sparking the noisy protest outside the Mayor's offices.
Veterans say new officers are badly needed – and this is no way to treat them.
"You can't expect young people to put their lives on hold, hoping they can get into the Montreal Police Department. So we lose enormous amounts of talent – good officers, well-trained officers –to other police departments," says Officer Yvonne Opdam.
The cuts will translate to four fewer officers per police station, said Yves Francoeur of the Montreal Police Brotherhood, adding that it will compromise public safety.
Francoeur also claims that certain investigations are being put on hold because of a lack of staff – those include fraud and sexual assault cases.
"We don't have any resources to contact them and to work on these complaints." says Francoeur.
So far the city has denied that public safety is being compromised with the cut, and argues emergency response times are not a problem.
The protest places pressure on the incoming police chief, Marc Parent, with contract talks between the city and the union starting in the fall.
"Mr. Parent is somebody who knows what's happening in the streets," says Francoeur. "We hope that he's gonna be with us, to claim more budget to Mayor Tremblay.
City of Montreal officials are rejecting most of the claims of police.
"Montreal is one of the best towns so far as security is concerned, so I don't think Mr. Francoeur should stay in that position," says Montreal executive committee member Claude Trudel.
The current labour contract expires at the end of December, so tensions could rise as budget issues become more closely intertwined with contract negotiations.
