Cities take aim at preserving 24-hour police service at Station 5

BY ANDY BLATCHFORD

andy.blatchford@transcontinental.ca

The cities of Pointe Claire and Dorval are calling on local cops to keep their doors open around the clock.

Both cities passed resolutions Monday night to oppose a proposal by Montreal police to reduce opening hours at Station 5.

Police told the cities’ mayors that opening the St. John’s Boulevard station from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. — instead of 24 hours a day — would enable the force to put two more officers on the road.

“We should have that anyway,” Dorval Mayor Edgar Rouleau said of extra patrollers. “We want more, not less.”

Rouleau said some residents are not available to go to the station during the proposed hours to file complaints.

“We don’t want to take away services from our citizens that need help at that time,” Rouleau said.

However, he said although police service has been “good” in Dorval residents have asked for more visibility from police.

“They (citizens) feel that they don’t see the police,” he said. “They have to be more present.”

Pointe Claire and Dorval plan to present their requests to the May 3 meeting of Montreal’s agglomeration council commission responsible for public security.

Meanwhile, Pointe Claire Mayor Bill McMurchie told residents at Monday’s council meeting the city is “categorically opposed” to the reduced opening hours.

“I’m not a 100 per cent sure that that’s the formula of success,” he said. “We spend millions of dollars for police services and still feel we require a (24-hour) public security department.”

McMurchie called the proposal a “reduced service” and fears it will eventually be taken away.

“Sooner or later they (the added patrollers) will disappear downtown somewhere and they won’t actually be on the street,” he said.

But the Montreal police department’s chief inspector in charge of the west sector said the initiative is “excellent.”

An officer will be “on the road instead of cooling his heels in the station waiting for a complaint,” Pierre Brochet said yesterday. “We want to put these people on the road.”

The police department wants to encourage citizens to file reports by telephone and eventually via the Internet, he said.

Police Station 5, which serves Pointe Claire and Dorval, is the only one in the West Island open 24 hours a day.

“What’s important is these cops aren’t leaving Pointe Claire and Dorval,” Brochet said.