Top officials of Montreal and its police service will address the public in a news conference on Friday morning to unveil “fresh initiatives aimed at enhancing the sense of security.” Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada and Jim Beis, in charge of public safety and prevention, will be present, along with police Chief Fady Dagher and police union leader Yves Francoeur.
The press briefing is set for 9 a.m. The announcement follows Dagher’s strategy to rebuild community confidence and combat discrimination in response to accusations of racial profiling by officers in the city’s northern district. The claims involving officers in Montréal-Nord surfaced in June when it was disclosed that 16 officers at Station 39 were under investigation for alleged racist and discriminatory behavior towards Black and Arab individuals during police stops.
Dagher confirmed on August 11 that three officers had been suspended, and the investigation was ongoing. In January, Ferrada’s administration fulfilled an electoral pledge by allocating $40 million in her initial municipal budget to outfit police officers with body cameras. Just this week, a Quebec coroner’s report on the death of a 29-year-old man during a police intervention recommended the use of body cameras by officers.