'As a last resort': Montreal metro security may be equipped with pepper spray

STM to maintain services, despite finances Montreal’s public transit services will not be cut this fall, even though it is facing financial troubles.

The special constables who patrol Montreal's metro system could soon be equipped with pepper spray, according to the city's public transit authority.

The Société de transport de Montréal (STM) says it's considering implementing the measure to help make the transit network safer for users and workers.

"A review of the tools available to our constables is currently underway," reads a statement sent to CTV News. "Among other means being considered, pepper spray in gel form, for example, could be used as a last resort in cases where safety is at stake."

Gel-based pepper spray is generally considered safer for indoor use because it can be delivered farther away and with a more precise stream.

The consideration comes as the STM faces a reported "change in the profile" of its users, namely a rise of "people in vulnerable positions -- drug addiction, homelessness, mental health -- who transit or take refuge in our facilities."

RISE IN SAFETY CONCERNS

Reports of safety concerns by STM customers have risen in recent years, which the agency attributes largely to societal shifts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2020, there were 662 safety complaints related to the STM's buses and metros, ranging from reports of drug use to behavioural concerns.

That number rose to 716 in 2021 and 983 in 2022, according to STM data. There were 501 complaints in the first quarter of 2023 alone.

"The profile of interventions carried out by our special constables to help ensure the safety of STM customers and employees has also evolved, and we recognize that their essential work is more complex and comes with its share of challenges," the STM statement continues.

In the spring, the STM announced it would hire 60 new workers to improve security and cleanliness in the metro, 20 of which were special constables.

POLICE-LIKE POWERS?

While at first glance these constables might look like Montreal police (SPVM) officers, they're trained as peace officers. They don't carry firearms but are typically equipped with telescopic batons.

Formerly called "inspectors," STM security workers were bumped up to "special constable" status in 2021, granting them additional powers such as the ability to make arrests.

At the time, critics feared metro security would become too "militarized" -- and adding pepper spray to the equation is just a further step in this direction, adds researcher Ted Rutland.

Rutland, a Concordia University professor specializing in urban planning and security, says the move plays into a worrying trend of over-policing vulnerable groups.

"We've seen a vast augmentation of police repression in metro stations and on public transit," he said. "The number of interventions that they're making in the metro system is enormous, in a context where obviously unhoused people have very few places to go."

He says granting additional powers to special constables is risky and unnecessary because protocols are already in place.

"If security guards encounter a situation where they require a taser, pepper spray, or a firearm, they can call the police," he said. "So I really hesitate to sort of expand the weaponry that people are able to use when the alternative has always been to call the police when that kind of weapon is necessary."

In its statement, the STM claimed the use of force is only necessary in an estimated "2 per cent" of its interventions.

"In any intervention, the key for our special constables is first and foremost to achieve a peaceful outcome by putting communication at the heart of their interventions in order to defuse any problematic situation."

STILL UP IN THE AIR 

The agency did not specify when, if ever, pepper spray canisters would be added to constables' belts.

"The results of this reflection will be submitted to our decision-making bodies at the appropriate time; bodies which will consider the whole thing seriously and rigorously, taking all angles into account."

Rutland says same energy put into these considerations should be adopted by municipal and provincial governments when it comes to tackling the root of the issue.

"The STM, the SPVM, even the police brotherhood will say that what we're seeing now is the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, untreated social problems, and the lack of investment in public institutions, community organizations, etc. Everyone's in agreement on this," he said. "And yet, the only calls for change that are being heard are calls for more police and more weaponry for security guards."