City of Montreal Names New Police Chief

Following its last council meeting on the process of finding a new chief of the Service de Police de la Ville de Montreal, the city of Montreal held a public council meeting where they announced further development on the selection process, as well as the retained candidate and new chief of police.

In March 2022, previous chief of police Sylvain Caron announced his departure and retirement. Following his resignation, the Human Resources department of the city of Montreal started a recruitment process for a new chief of the SPVM. In May 2022, Sophie Roy was named interim chief of police, while the recruitment for a new chief continued.

The process was, however, put on hold soon after, due to community groups, youth and other citizens demanding to be actively involved in the selection process. The city of Montreal consequently held public discussions and consultations to decipher what qualities and skills Montrealers wanted to see in the next chief of police.

Following these discussions and consultations with citizens, the city of Montreal decided to elect Fady Dagher as the next Chief of Police.

Dagher was invited to share his vision for his upcoming mandate, and the SPVM. The new chief of police put focus on a "broadened vision" for his mandate, an open vision towards the population. He mentioned adapting to the diversity of the current population, and that all communities have to be included when disserved by the SPVM. He named inclusion as one of his top priority, stating that marginalized communities could not be ignored. He also mentioned working with community organizations, especially for issues such as mental health and immigration.

Prevention was also named as an important factor to decrease criminality. Others elements of his vision included humility, modesty and proactivity.