Police forces in Quebec, and other municiapal unions have been employing a number of tactics to protest the Bill-3 pension reform. Police are wearing non-standard uniforms and have plastered police cars with anti-Bill 3 stickers, The city complains they are losing millions of dollars in revenue as police are not meeting their ticket quotas
Photo Credit: Graham Hughes- CP

Police ticket quotas- Montreal wants its money

If you ever wondered if police have ticket quotas, or euphemistically, “performance expectations”, wonder no more, at least not for the major urban city of Montreal, Quebec.

The Montreal Police Brotherhood says it wants an end to the ticket quotas set by the city.

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As part of their protest, Montreal police have been wearing an odd assortment of camouflage pants instead of the proper uniform. In Chateuaguay south of Montreal police have opted for a cowboy attire © CBC

The police union president Yves Francoeur said traffic officers are expected to issue at least 16 tickets per day, for the officers patrolling on bicycles, its 18 tickets a day, and depending on the particular police station it’s between 450 to 1,500 tickets a month.

Francoeur says if a station is down on its quota it will take officers off patrol and order them to hand out tickets.  He says this means many times police will not be available to respond to emergencies unless life is actually in danger, and victims of theft might wait hours before police respond.

He said the policy also often leads to officers targeting roads or intersections that aren’t dangerous, simply to meet their quotas.

He also says ticket numbers are also used to evaluate officers looking for promotion.

Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre says setting quotas ensure police are productive saying “they have a job to do, to serve and protect and that’s part of their job”

Police and municipal workers across the mainly French speaking province are angered over a plan to have them contribute more to their pension plan.

In November the city filed a grievance against the police union demanding $12.5 million dollars because it says police slowed down on issuing tickets by about a third, as a pressure tactic against the governments new law on pension reform.

The new pension law will increase to 50% the amount municipal workers have to contribute to their pension plans in order to make up a $4billion shortfall. This includes 65,000 workers in the province such as transit employees, firefighters, police and others.

Quebec is currently facing an almost $6-billion deficit

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