Montrealers will be consulted in selecting future police chief

City officials plan to hold public consultations to name it's future police chief, mirroring a process already in place in Toronto.

Montrealers will have a say in who and what kind of police chief they want to run the city’s top law enforcement position of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM).

City officials announced the public will be consulted through online surveys, one-on-one meetings or participation in focus groups.

Public consultations are held in Toronto to help decide the city’s top police job and Montreal wants to establish a similar process.

“It’s very important that there is that consultation,” Dominique Ollivier, Montreal’s executive committee president, said at a Tuesday press conference.

Fo Niemi, the executive director of the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR), applauds the effort but says the future chief needs to be plugged into Montreal’s ethnic communities and be aware of the city’s special needs.

“How should the police deal with the homeless and people who have mental health needs? How to de-escalate? How to avoid fatal police intervention with excessive force?” he said.

Ollivier says that’s the plan.

“We want the head of the police service to be in tune with the Montreal population, with their aspiration, with the way they see public security in the next couple of years,” she said.