“Arrogance, regime of terror, narcissism”, these are three qualifiers that have been expressed by various sources from the Police Department of the City of Mercier to describe the current work climate.
The suspension with pay of the chief, Steeve Boutin, announced Wednesday by the general management of the City of Mercier, would have been welcomed like a balm by the twenty permanent police officers. According to testimonies, the rag was burning between the director and several of his agents, including civilian employees.
The administration of the police department operated on fear and threats. We were under a regime of terrorsaid one of the Mercier police officers, on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
The working climate was toxic. And it came from the top of the pyramid in the chain of commandhe added.
The City of Mercier claims to have acted as soon as it was informed of the situation which affected the working climate at its police department.
I received information last Friday that a complaint concerning Mr. Boutin had been formally filed with the City of Mercier. At the beginning of the week, Monday, I was able to read the content. The next day, several employees of the police department insisted on meeting with me in privateconfirmed René Chalifoux, general manager of the City of Mercier.
It was following this meeting that the director general made the decision to suspend his director of police.
At the end of the meeting, it was clear that this was a case where the City had to call on an outside firm to conduct an independent investigation. Without going into details to respect the current process, we can talk about allegations of psychological harassment in the workplace.he added.
According to our information, the complainants come from several sectors of the Mercier police department. There would be not only police officers, but also civilian employees and people from union sources.
We believe that these complainants could send other people. So there could be more people met by the external firmmentioned Mr. Chalifoux.
After a career with the Trois-Rivières police, Mr. Boutin arrived in the City of Mercier in 2017 to build a brand new organization after seeing Châteauguay repatriate its entire police department.
With an annual budget of approximately $3 million, the Mercier police force is currently the smallest police force in Quebec.
The general management of the City of Mercier would like to point out that this administrative decision has no impact on the security services offered by the police to citizens.
We estimate at least two months the duration of the investigation. It is necessary to consider the summer season, when the people involved in the survey will not be availableconcluded the CEO.
Meanwhile, a high-ranking member of the police organization, Sébastien Fournier, takes over as interim director of the Mercier police.
Source: Radio-Canada
