Police officers perform several duties, including:

• Maintaining peace, order and public security;
  
• Preventing crime;
  
• Finding and arresting criminals;
  
• Conducting criminal investigations;
  
• Ensuring that municipal by-laws, the Highway Safety Code and other provincial or federal laws are followed.

The following peace officers are subject to the Code of ethics of Québec police officers in the exercise of their duties:

• The Sûreté du Québec, under the authority of the Minister of Public Security, which offers a provincial police service;
  
• The municipal police that serves the territory of the municipality for which it was established. Examples include the Montreal police department (Service de police de la Ville de Montréal- SPVM ) and the Quebec city police department (Service de police de la Ville de Québec- SPVQ);
  
• Aboriginal police established by an aboriginal community, to cover the territory of the community;
  
• Special constables, such as those who work in courthouses and at the National Assembly;
  
• Highway controllers of the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ);
  
• Wildlife conservation officers.

Yes. The Code of ethics of Québec police officers requires a police officer to behave in a way that preserves the confidence and consideration that his duties require. That is to say, a police officer must not:

• Use obscene, blasphemous or insulting language (for example: insulting someone, swearing, etc.);
  
• Act or make insulting statements based on race, colour, sex, sexual orientation, religion, political convictions, language, age, social condition, disability, etc.;
  
• Treat a person impolitely or without respect;
  
• Forget or refuse to identify himself with an official document when a person asks him to do so;
  
• Forget to wear a prescribed identification mark (a badge, insignia, uniform, etc.) in his direct relations with members of the public;
  
• Abuse his authority in his relations with the public (threats, harassment, use of unnecessary force, etc.);
  
• Disobey the law (for example, illegal arrest or detention).

Yes. A police officer who abuses his authority commits an act which is against the Code of ethics of Québec police officers.

For example, a police officer arrests and detains someone while knowing that that person did not commit any crime. That police officer has abused his authority.

To avoid all forms of abuse of authority, the Code of ethics forbids police officers from doing the following things:

• Using more force than is necessary;
  
• Making threats, intimidating or harassing people;
  
• Intentionally accusing another person without justification;
  
• Abusing his authority in order to obtain a statement or admission;
  
• Detaining a person who is not under arrest to interrogate him.

There are many other forbidden acts which concern investigations, handling of firearms, detention, searches, etc. To learn more about these, you can consult the Code of ethics of Québec police officers.

When a person believes that a police officer has treated him in a way that goes against the Code of ethics of Québec police officers, he can file a complaint directly at the office of the Police Ethics Commissioner or at any police station.

The complaint must be in writing. The person (called “the complainant”) has one year after the date of the event or after he learned of the event to file his complaint. For example, Julie was insulted by a police officer on December 2, 2003. She has until December 2, 2004 to file a complaint at the Commissioner’s office

If the complainant asks for their help, the staff members at the Commissioner’s office must help him with the wording of the complaint and with identifying the evidence needed to back it up.

Then, the office of the Police Ethics Commissioner will receive the complaint, examine it and attempt to reconcile the parties.

Where necessary, the office of the Police Ethics Commissioner will investigate and compel the police officer to come before the Comité de déontologie policière at the date and time fixed by the Comité.

For a complaint to be treated, it must:

• Be in writing;
  
• Be submitted within the time limit (one year);
  
• Have to do with a police officer in the exercise of his duties;
  
• Allege a violation of the Code of Ethics of Québec police officers.

The complaint may not go forward if these conditions are not met.

If the conditions are met, the Commissioner begins by briefly analyzing the complaint. Then, he selects a conciliator and sends him the file. In general, all complaints go to conciliation unless the complainant refuses to go. There are also exceptions for certain types of complaints.

For example, the conciliation process will not take place when the complaint is about a very serious act, such as injuring or killing a citizen. In those cases, the complaint will be directly investigated by the Commissioner. However, even in those cases, the people involved can choose to go to conciliation, if they want to.

Any complaint against a police officer is sent to conciliation. The Commissioner has the power to order conciliation even if the police officer was fired, quit or retired after the events at issue occurred.

The complainant (person who filed the complaint) can refuse to participate in conciliation. However, if he refuses to participate in conciliation, he runs the risk of having his complaint rejected by the Commissioner. The Commissioner will examine if his reasons for refusing conciliation are good enough. If they are not, the Commissioner can reject his complaint.

During the conciliation process, the complainant and the police officer are invited to meet in the presence of a conciliator. The conciliator cannot be a police officer, or even a former police officer.

The goal of conciliation is to find a solution that will satisfy both the complainant and the police officer. Thus, they are invited to express their points of view freely.

The complainant and the police officer can be accompanied by a person of their choice during conciliation. The complainant doesn’t have to bring a lawyer, but he can, if he wants to. During conciliation, the lawyer can intervene, but the conciliator will generally prefer to encourage the complainant and the police officer to speak on their own.

Please note that Legal Aid will not cover the services of a lawyer for the complainant even if he is eligible for legal aid. It is not one of the services covered by Legal Aid.

No. The answers or statements made during a conciliation meeting – whether by the complainant or by the officer – cannot be used as evidence in criminal, civil or administrative proceedings later on.

The goal of conciliation is to resolve the complaint that was made. For conciliation to be successful, the complainant and the police officer must agree together on a way to resolve the complaint.

If they reach an agreement, the complaint is settled. The settlement made in conciliation must be written down, approved by the Commissioner and signed by both the complainant and the police officer involved.

If, on the other hand, they don’t reach an agreement, the conciliation process fails. The Commissioner can investigate the acts behind the complaint.

Remember that, in general, the Commissioner only investigates complaints that haven’t been rejected and that were not resolved through conciliation.

If the Commissioner decides to investigate the complaint, he chooses a person to act as an investigator. The investigation is meant to determine if there is enough evidence to hold a hearing about the complaint before the Comité de déontologie policière. The police officer and the complainant are notified of the progress of the investigation.

The investigator submits his findings to the Commissioner in an investigation report.

If the investigation report reveals that the complaint was justified, the Commissioner compels the police officer to come before the Comité de déontologie policière to answer to the complaint. If the investigation report doesn’t confirm the validity of the complaint, the complaint is rejected. Where warranted, the Commissioner can send the investigation report to the Attorney General, particularly, to ask for criminal charges to be brought against the police officer.

The Commissioner immediately notifies the complainant, the police officer, and the director of the police force to which he belongs, of his decision. If he rejects the complaint, he must give them his reasons and send along a summary of the investigation report. He also informs the complainant of his right to have this decision reviewed by the Comité de déontologie policière.

The Comité de déontologie policière is the tribunal in charge of deciding whether or not a police officer has violated the Code of ethics. The Comité is made up of lawyers appointed as full-time members by the government, for a maximum term of five years.

When the Commissioner accuses a police officer, the Comité holds a hearing to decide if the reproaches he made on the police officer’s conduct are justified or not. The hearing is presided over by only one member of the Comité, who acts like a judge.

The hearing opposes the Commissioner and the police officer. The complainant is just a witness at the hearing.

The Commissioner makes his case against the police officer. Then, the police officer is heard by the Comité. The Comité must allow the police officer to defend himself against the complaint.

The Commissioner and the police officer take turns calling witnesses that can testify about relevant things to the complaint.

After considering the evidence, the Comité decides whether or not the behavior of the police officer violated the Code of ethics. The decision of the Comité can be appealed at the Court of Québec.

Since the hearings of the Comité are public, anyone who wants to, can attend them.

When the Comité de déontologie policière decides that the police officer’s conduct violates the Code of ethics, it may impose one of the following penalties on the officer:

• Warning;
  
• Reprimand;
  
• Rebuke;
  
• Suspension without pay for a period of up to 60 working days;
  
• Demotion;
  
• Dismissal.

For example: the Comité found that agent Sauvé used unnecessary force when she shot pepper spray on a person who was just wandering in the street. Agent Sauvé is suspended without pay for 20 days.

When the police officer is no longer in service when the penalty is imposed (because he was fired, quit or retired), the Comité can disqualify him from exercising the functions of a peace officer for a maximum period of 5 years.

Unless he was discharged or dismissed for his behavior, the police officer may apply to have his conduct “forgiven” (called a “remission”). He can only make this request after 2 to 3 years have passed from the beginning of the penalty that was imposed on him. If granted (which it almost always is for a first warning, rebuke or reprimand), the remission will be noted in the police officer’s file. From that point on, his wrongful conduct can no longer be used against him (for example, to prevent him from getting a promotion) unless he commits a new wrongful act or unless his remission is taken away.