On Tuesday September 28th, the ICPC took part in a workshop lead by the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (Montreal police department, SPVM) on police intervention policy. Adopted in July 2020, the Politique sur les interpellations policières marks an important cultural turning point and provides a framework for the organization’s intervention practices. The SPVM is the first police force in Quebec to implement such a policy.
Among the issues discussed at the workshop, a focus was put on the following themes:
- The difference between social interactions, interventions, police stops, custody for questioning, and arrests;
- Legal issues related to various police practices;
- The application context for and the issues related to the newly implemented intervention form.
This workshop aimed to demystify police intervention practices and to educate the public on the practical implications of the new policy in the SPVM. We thank the SPVM and the Borough of Saint-Léonard for inviting us to take part in this workshop and to exchange with local actors.