Montreal's public transit agency wants its inspectors to have more authority and powers similar to those of police officers – and it is raising some eyebrows in light of a recent altercation.
The STM's board of directors voted Wednesday to begin the process to turn inspectors into special constables, with all the accompanying rights and powers.
Currently inspectors can only ask for identification and issue fines.
The new powers would include the power to intervene and detain people committing criminal acts and to access police databases.
“They're not replacing the police, they would only have more powers to intervene while the police would come over,” said STM chair Philippe Schnobb.
It would also include the power to issue parking tickets to cars parked in bus lanes and to order those vehicles towed.
The STM said it is not considering access to more weapons such as handguns, Tasers, and pepper spray.
“There is absolutely no intention to change the equipment. No guns, no Tasers, not at all. It specifically said in the resolution we adopted yesterday we're not asking for any change in the inspectors' equipment,” said Schnobb.
To ensure public trust, Schnobb said the constables would be accountable to Quebec's police watchdog, the Bureau of Independent Investigations (BEI).
"The only thing it would change is that if there's a process after the fact the process would be held by external authorities like the BEI and the police ethics commission, so with that status comes some accountability so they would be under that scrutiny from other bodies," said Schnobb.
The change in status will not be quick. It would first have to be approved by the Montreal police department, and would also need approval from the provincial public security minister.
Muscled intervention
The STM acknowledges this would be a large change, and one that it has to do with the public's trust -- a trust that many say was broken in March when inspectors repeatedly struck a man with batons while trying to arrest him.
That man, Juliano Gray, was playing with a soccer ball on the metro and had not paid his fare. He said that since he was beaten he has suffered post-traumatic stress and been unable to work.
Former STM board member and Montreal city councillor Marvin Rotrand said that incident shocked Montrealers.
"Metro and transit inspectors are there for two reasons: one is fare verification and the other is customer service. They play a hybrid role in Montreal and they compete with the police department within the Metro and as such the public is never quite clear what their role is really is. And since this awful incident in the Metro in the beginning of March there has been a lot of discontent," said Rotrand.
The STM said its investigation into the incident showed proper procedures were followed, although the STM never spoke to Gray about what happened.
STM chair Philippe Schnobb said that if the STM inspectors become special constables such incidents would have to be investigated by an outside organization, namely the BEI, the province's independent group for investigating police misconduct.
"The only thing it would change is that if there's a process after the fact the process would be held by external authorities like the BEI and the police ethics commission, so with that status comes some accountability so they would be under that scrutiny from other bodies," said Schnobb.
The change in status will not be quick. It would first have to be approved by the Montreal police department, and would also need approval from the provincial public security minister.
