Repentigny police hope to build bridges with Black population with community policing

Repentigny police say a new emphasis on community policing is helping build bridges with the youth after being under scrutiny in recent years over racial profiling allegations.

However, at least one community group says the force has missed the mark.

Inside a Repentigny youth centre, police from across the region reaffirmed their commitment to the new approach.

"Community policing in contrast with the traditional focus on the repression of offenses is proactive by nature," said Didier Deramond, the director general of the Quebec Police Chiefs Association.

Officers routinely visit youth centres to meet and chat with young people, like Zack Pare.

"The key is communication in every relationship, friendship, family, just overall," said the Repentigny resident.

Pare admits to having been afraid of police as a child but not anymore.

"They've been talking to me, explaining that they're not here to, like, hurt me. They're not here to scare me. They're just here to talk."

It's also a learning opportunity for police.

"If they've given me experiences in the past where they've been spoken to in a certain way or they've been aborted through abruptly, well, my job is to get that information and translate it to our department to make it better," said Peter Daher, a Repentigny police constable.

But not every community is feeling the extra effort.

Pierre-Richard Thomas, president of Lakay Media, an organization that promotes diversity and inclusion.

"As a Black organization in the region, we don't see it," he said.

The Repentigny police department has been the subject of numerous lawsuits and human rights complaints in recent years about alleged racial profiling and systemic racism. A 2021 report found Black people in Repentigny are two-and-a-half times more likely to be arrested than white residents.

Richard Thomas says if the police need to build bridges with any community, it's his.

"Yes, there's a lot of communication, a lot of press that it's going to change, that it's changing, but on the ground, nothing has changed," he said, adding that confidence in the police among Black residents remains low.

According to the Association des directeurs de police du Québec, it's a reality all police departments are grappling with.

"The police in general have been struggling with those problems year after year. So that's why we have to change the culture, and that's why we have to change. We are doing things," Deramond said.

The Repentigny police service has given itself until 2026 to implement a 50-point plan to tackle what it calls issues of diversity and inclusion within the service.