2023-07-04 01:34:44
Citizens and elected officials from Sept-Îles and Port-Cartier feel that the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) is not present and visible enough in their city.
The police force, however, ensures that its workforce has been stable for several years. These remarks do not succeed in silencing the critics.
The mayor of Sept-Îles, Steeve Beaupré, recently contacted the SQ, as a citizen, for the police to intervene with a motorist who was consuming cannabis in a place frequented by families.
“I was told that there was another more urgent situation, that there was a lack of staff which meant that they might not respond to my call. I was invited to give a statement a little later. In fact, what I wanted was to prevent, to prevent this person from taking his vehicle near a shopping center like that.
It was finally another police force, La Sécurité publique de Uashat mak Mani-utenam (SPUM), which intervened with the motorist. But for the mayor, this experience points to a lack of police presence in his city.
The perception of certain citizens has been fueled by a continuous drop, in recent years, in the number of reports of violations of the Highway Safety Code.
Councilor Denis Miousse is a member of the MRC’s public security committee, which works with the SQ. He has already expressed his concerns.
“At the SQ, we are told that the numbers provided for in the contract between the MRC of Sept-Rivières and the Sûreté du Québec, the numbers are respected. We have a staff of 58 police officers that we should always have on the territory. We are told that it is always respected.
The City of Sept-Îles is currently disbursing nearly $4.5 million for the services of the Sûreté du Québec.
In the neighboring town of Port-Cartier, citizens and elected officials have also noticed a drop in the presence of police officers.
The SQ refused to answer questions from TVA Nouvelles on this subject. The police force considers that information on its personnel is of a strategic nature and should not be made public.
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