Promises about the police
Ted Rutland posted this to Facebook on Wednesday and I can’t link to that, so I’m kyping his text:
The first policy is demanded by the police brotherhoods precisely to increase police power and impunity. Body cameras don’t reduce police violence or hold police accountable. They are used against the population – to secure quick convictions, to enable surveillance, and to win public relations battles (when citizen-filmed videos circulate on social media).
The second policy just wrecks community work, as we showed in a report last year with RAPSIM.
They know all of this, obviously, but Ensemble Montréal exists to advance the agenda of the police brotherhood and PM stopped pretending long ago that it cares about communities targeted by police and its project of suburbanizing the city requires a strong police to uplift “feelings of security.”
Transition Montreal’s platform on policing blows the old parties out of the water. Three simple policies that will reduce police violence:
(1) transfer non-criminal 911 calls to a civilian response unit,
(2) stop the police from exceeding its budget by $50M/year and use the money to fund violence prevention,
(3) abolish street checks.
It’s not complicated.
Tim S. 13:03 on 2025-10-08 Permalink
I can’t disagree about most of this, but there’s a lot contained in the part about Projet Montreal “suburbanizing the city [which] requires a strong police to uplift “feelings of security.” ” What would an ideal city look like, according to Rutland? Would he prefer that people who would like to live in reasonable security just leave and actually move to the suburbs? Yes, city life will mean living with all kinds of people, and we can’t just wish them away, but I have questions about Rutland’s ultimate vision here.
Kate 14:08 on 2025-10-08 Permalink
I wondered whether he had in mind the shutting down of music venues so nearby residents could live in suburban peace and quiet.
Joey 14:47 on 2025-10-08 Permalink
I wondered whether it was a hastily written paragraph and he meant that Ensemble had a project of “suburbanizing the city” – if he did indeed mean to ascribe that to Projet, I’m not sure the rest of his analysis is worthwhile (and Ted is usually on point). I similarly wouldn’t agree that “Ensemble exists to advance the agenda of the police brotherhood.” Anyway, policy proposals that end with “it’s not complicated” are usually worth the price you paid for ’em…
DeWolf 16:42 on 2025-10-08 Permalink
It’s not complicated except for the very powerful police union and the pesky electorate that is increasingly convinced Montreal is unsafe.
I agree with Rutland’s vision but (a) getting elected with such a platform and (b) actually implementing it is not as simple as he makes it sound.
I also balked at the quip abut PM’s “project of suburbanizing the city” which is like… huh?
Ian 19:13 on 2025-10-08 Permalink
I see what he means. But we’ve argued about that here before, clearly opinions in an “ideal” urban environment vary. And that’s ok.