Within the province of Quebec the main police force is La Sûreté du Québec, which is the main unit responsible for almost eveything within the province, although many municipalities may have their own police force and the except of Montreal which has the SPVM (Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal). Montreal is known for many different reasons, Expo 67, Biodome, Marché Bonsecours, Old Forum, Montreal Canadians, F1, Charbonneau Commision and more recently police brutality within the context of protests (CTV Montreal, 2014).
When walking around Montreal you are certain to see a police officer, whether it be by car, bike, foot or horse, they are everywhere in Montreal. The most recent clash between demonstrators and police took place during the Police Anti-Brutality Protest, which took place on March 15th, where people gatheres to “publicly voice their opposition to excessive use of police force-or to call for the disbanding of armed police forces altogether” (The Link, 2014). This is an annual event in its 18th year, however, unlike most year this years protest was declared illegal mere minutes after it started due to municipal bylaws put into effect during the Maple Spring or the Montreal 2012 Student Protest (The Link, 2014). It seems that it has become expected that the SPVM kettle protestors, pepper spray them and conduct themselves in a way unacceptable of people with authority over others, compared to Taiwanesse officers there is a stark difference. In Taiwan, specifically in Taipei county the policemen have their own beat in which it consits of a couple of city blocks, containing about 200-400 households, and a sole officer is responsible for this (Martin, 2007). There seems to be very little conflict between Taiwainesse policemen and their citizens, even though each policemen is responsible for their beat, they know the people and regularly interact with them. This system of course isn’t feasible for all places and cities, however, it seems to be effective in Taiwan and other cities could learn a lot from Taipei County’s police system.
From a native’s perspective, I think the SPVM have a tough job and they tend to get a lot of critism for doing their job. An example, is during the Maple Spring most police offficers worked double shifts and did plenty of overtime due to the ongoing protest. No job is ever easy and I think being a police officer in a large city has its challenges, we live in a society where free speech is rampant leading to everyone being able to freely express their opinion. People will always have their opinions, however, perhaps taking a look at the SPVM and making changes would be benificial not only for the police officers but also for the citizens of Montreal.
Image Source:
Panda Costume: http://blogs.montrealgazette.com/2013/03/07/the-story-so-far-lachine-hospital-stays-with-muhc-and-protests-are-killing-downtown/
Taipei Police: http://english.tcpd.taipei.gov.tw/GIPDSD/xslGip/xslExport/108002/%E8%AD%A6%E5%AF%9F%E5%B1%80%E8%8B%B1%E6%96%87%E7%89%88%E5%9E%8B1/images/%5B1%5Dlogo_tcpd.png
References:
CTV Montreal. (2014, March 15). Montreal police hand out 288 fines, arrest five during anti-police brutality protest. Retrieved from http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/montreal-police-hand-out-288-fines-arrest-five-during-anti-police-brutality-protest-1.1730803
The Link. (2014, March 18). Editorial: The spvm’s bylaw squad. Retrieved from http://thelinknewspaper.ca/article/5713
Martin, Jeffrey. 2007. “A Reasonable Balance of Law and Sentiment: Social Order in Democratic Taiwan from the Policeman’s Point of View.” Law & Society Review 41 (3): 665-697.
No comments:
Post a Comment