Historic Boost Gives Montreal Police $724 Million Budget in 2022

The Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) is receiving the second highest increase in their budget in Montreal’s history, with an additional $45 million dollars this year.

Just last month, the SPVM announced that they went over budget in 2021 by $51 million. The city of Montreal has agreed to pay this, but what will stop them from going over budget in 2022?

Despite most Montrealers in favour of defunding the police, can we see another increase next year? Local 514 investigates...

Executive director from the Center-Action on Race Relations Fo Niemi joins the show to discuss racist policies within the SPVM, as Niemi, a human rights lawyer, has represented many Montrealers filing complains against SPVM officers for racial profiling and police brutality.

Rain Hye, organizer at Defund the Police Coalition Montreal, also joins Local 514 to discuss the need for divesting from the police and reinvesting in community organizations – especially in low income and racialized communities – to reduce crime at its roots and better support communities while promoting equality. 

Ted Rutland, associate professor at Concordia University and journalist joins Local 514. Rutland has written many articles on defunding the police, and most recently the increase to the SPVM's budget and how they overspent the 2021 budget by $51 million.

Following BLM protests in the summer of 2020, Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante said she would be open to looking into defunding the police. 

Montreal residents were asked if they wanted the police budget to be decreased, with 73% responding yes, however, the city ended up increasing the police budget by $14 million in the fall of 2020. The SPVM’s budget has increased every year since. 

So what else will this additional funding be going towards? The SPVM said the funding will allow for 60 new officers to be hired despite Projet Montreal claiming the added funding would allow for 122 new officers to join the city’s police forces.

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