The Sûreté du Québec admits to facing serious problems with the renewal of its fleet of patrol cars since the police force is struggling to find new vehicles and does not know when the situation will return to normal.
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The SQ argues that this is a global reality. It is difficult to be supplied not only with new models, but also with spare parts.
As a contingency measure, an agreement was reached with the union of its police officers to extend the mileage limit from 200,000 to 220,000.
However, the president of the Provincial Police Association expressed his great concern for the safety of police officers since incidents have already occurred.
The SQ nevertheless believes that even older vehicles can still drive very well and that damage can also occur with recent vehicles.
“That does not mean that a vehicle at 200,000 or 220,000 kilometers is no longer operational, as long as a vehicle could be even less in kilometers and could still not be (operational) and at that time it would be removed. But you have to realize that vehicles with 200,000 kilometers are not bad vehicles. So they still have an interesting lifespan potential which even allows the police to work in the field, ”said Lieutenant Ann Mathieu of the SQ.
The police force ensures that the safety of citizens in the territories served is not threatened by this situation.
The fleet which should normally have 1,100 patrol cars has only 1,000 left. A fleet of 75 refurbished cars has been set up to help detachments lacking vehicles.