More Montreal traffic cops on the streets than last summer

ABOVE WATCH: Up to 250 traffic cops will work the Montreal streets at any given time this summer – that’s up from 150 in 2014. Global’s Sarah Volstad reports.

MONTREAL – It hasn’t gone unnoticed: this summer, Montreal intersections seem to be plagued with traffic cops.

“You have to understand that there’s a lot of major works going on,” said Andre Durocher, Montreal Police traffic spokesperson.

“A lot of major sites.”

Construction contracts and road closures are all contributing to the city’s traffic problem.

It’s also giving police officers a lot of extra work.

“The good news with that is it makes the city safer,” said Durocher.

“We’ve had incidents where officers were there to do traffic at an intersection and they witnessed a crime and they intervened immediately.”

Police officers working to direct traffic do so on a voluntary basis as it goes above and beyond their 35-hour regular work week, which means they make time-and-a-half.

Durocher couldn’t say what their exact hourly salary would be.

The number of traffic cops at work on any given day this summer could reach 250 officers; that’s up from 150 on a busy day last year.

Officer Benoit Boisselle patrols the intersection of Ontario and Papineau streets.

“We are in the area here that we have Jacques Cartier Bridge, so we have to make the circulation go very fast to the bridge to empty the streets in Montreal,” said Boisselle.

It’s a job he said he takes seriously.

“We don’t always have a smile, but the thing is we have pressure to make sure that everybody is going home fast,” he said.

This intersection, like others, can require up to four officers.

Durocher insisted they aren’t just standing around: each officer has an assigned task.

“That’s why you need a lot of officers on certain intersections.”

Montrealers can expect more traffic cops next week when sites reopen after the construction holiday.