Calling the structure of the Montreal police service too cumbersome, complex and 'very administrative', interim police chief Martin Prud'homme announced Tuesday that he was eliminating seven senior management positions.

Prud'homme presented his action plan to reform the SPVM to Montreal city hall Tuesday, making the public security meeting open to the public in a bid to offer more transparency.

Prud'homme said he will be cutting eight assistant director positions and will now have four deputy directors instead of three – cutting those senior roles from 11 to four.

The decision was made to improve the effectiveness of the SPVM, not for any budgetary reasons, Prud’homme told the Public Security Commission of Montreal.

He also plans to restructure internal affairs, the division fingered in a damning report as most in need of an overhaul. He is instead creating a new unit to ensure the integrity of hiring and promotions within the force to combat favouritism.

In office for just two months, Prud'homme was appointed to the post after a report found irregularities, misconduct, favouritism and tribalism was rife within the Montreal police force.

Chief Philippe Pichet was suspended.

Prud'homme was serving as chief of the Surete du Quebec, but has now been handed a one-year mandate to root out problems at the Montreal police force.

He told the committee he said he's well on his way to reorganizing the police force, adding that he has received a lot of support for his reform from within the force.

“We will respond to questions. We will provide statistics,” he said. “You will get many more responses than you ever had.”

Some of these changes are already having an effect, said city councillor Alex Norris, who is chair of the Public Security Commission of Montreal.

“It is going to require a lot of determination and a lot of hard work, not only by the leadership of the police, but the rank-and-file of the public and we want to have this dialogue. We want to get these issues out in the open. For far too long we've been hiding these issues from public view, discussing around a round table in private. That is not genuine accountability,” he said.

There is already speculation about who will be taking over for Prud'homme once he finishes his term in December, some even suggesting it could or should be a civilian.

With files from La Presse Canadienne