LONGUEUIL, QUE. -- Longueuil police (SPAL) says it plans to redirect its services to more social policing.

Under the leadership of Longueuil police Director Fady Dagher, 24 police officers will begin an unarmed, non-uniformed immersion in the community this fall.

Dagher specifies the officers in question will be chosen first and foremost for their humanism.

The project, funded by the provincial government to the tune of $3.6 million over three years, was announced Monday by Public Security Minister Geneviève Guilbault.

Minister for Health and Social Services, Lionel Carmant, states a recurring amount of $300,000 will be given to maintain a psychosocial support team for police officers in the field.

The objective of the Policiers RESO project is to allow police officers to integrate into the community and to get to know it in order to favour upstream intervention before situations get out of hand.

Dagher explains police officers have no choice but to adapt to new realities, as an increasing proportion of their work is psychosocial intervention than 911 emergency calls.

-- this report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on June 14, 2021.