Mont-Tremblant has voted to abolish its police force

Mont-Tremblant City Council has decided to abolish its police force. (Credit: Ville de Mont-Tremblant)

MONTREAL — Mont-Tremblant City Council has decided to abolish its police force. The decision was made during a special meeting on Wednesday night.

Officials say they will ask Quebec’s public security minister, in a resolution that was unanimously adopted, to abolish its public safety services in favour of the territory being served by the Sûreté du Québec (SQ), the Canadian Press has learned.

The Quebec Federation of Municipal Police (FPMQ), which represents more than 5,000 police officers, is calling for a referendum on the decision; while local residents are denouncing it as ‘unacceptable,’ saying it could harm their neighbourhood services.

“We have a police force that is very close to the residents, very close to the young people; most police officers are coaches for sports teams and they do a lot of prevention work, said David Dupras, who is part of the group `Together, against the abolishment of our local police force in Mont-Tremblant.'

“We are worried about losing this prevention work by going with the SQ."

He insists it is because of the force’s work “that there has been no robbery in Mont-Tremblant in the last year.”

According to a notice of public consultation posted by the administration, the change of police force could allow an annual net savings between $ 1.4 million and $ 2.5 million within the first five years.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 12, 2019.