Borough mayor vows to keep fighting Montreal police’s Station 11 closure

A controversial plan to merge two police stations in Montreal’s west end is forging ahead, with the city’s police department holding a digital presentation for residents set to be impacted by the move on Tuesday night.

Under the plan, Station 11 in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce will be closed and merged into Station 9, located in nearby Côte Saint-Luc.

However, the plan continues to be met with fierce opposition, most notably from Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough Mayor Sue Montgomery, who told Global News Morning that Tuesday’s presentation did little to assuage her concerns.

“The problem with this entire information session is that it was not a consultation meeting,” she explained. “It was not interactive. The police read the questions and then gave very official-sounding full-of-buzzword answers.”

The former member of Projet Montréal, who was ejected from the party earlier this year, told Global’s Laura Casella the decision seems to be driven almost entirely by “convenience” for the police.

“What they said was that the lease was up at Station 11. Station 9 is a big station that could accommodate them, so they thought, ‘Wow, this opportunity has presented itself … so let’s do it.'”

Police say that in recent years, fewer and fewer people have visited police stations in person, with more officers being sent to the street instead. That has changed the way the force needs to operate, they argue, and having larger stations that cover more than one neighbourhood is more efficient.

“For several years, we have known that by bringing together more police officers in the same stations makes it possible to conduct more patrols, to have more police presence and visibility on the ground,” said Simonetta Barth, Montreal police’s deputy director.

Police have also indicated that the borough will maintain its existing level of service from the police despite the loss of a physical station.

However, Montgomery said it’s hard for her to be convinced of the benefits of merging the two stations without seeing any data to support the move, something she said Montreal police have yet to provide.

“All important decisions that have an impact on people’s lives need to be based on data, and so far, we’ve seen none,” Montgomery asserted.

According to Montgomery, police were unable to even provide basic data on Station 11 in the online presentation, such as how many walk-ins the station sees right now.

She said she would be less opposed to the merger if Montreal police could provide hard data to support their claim that patrols and officers on the streets of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce would increase with the move to a station outside the neighbourhood.

The mayor added that she felt it was inappropriate for Montreal police to continue to push ahead with their plans amid the current novel coronavirus pandemic.

“This is not something that should be done in this time of COVID,” Montgomery said, suggesting that local police officers are more able to cultivate relationships with vulnerable members of the neighbourhood. “During a pandemic, we need police in our neighbourhood.”

Montgomery said she isn’t alone in her opposition to the merger, saying the mayors of the cities of Côte Saint-Luc and Hampstead also opposed the plan, as well as a number of local community groups.

“I’ll be consulting with my community groups today to see what the next steps will be,” she said.

“I certainly am not going to give up the fight yet. I’m not someone to give up that easily.”