Sûreté du Québec

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
Sûreté du Québec
Sûreté du Québec.svg
Badge of the Sûreté du Québec.
Agency overview
Formed May 1, 1870
Legal personality Governmental: Government agency
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction* Province of Quebec, Canada
Map of Quebec (English).png
Map of Sûreté du Québec's jurisdiction.
Size 1,542,056 km²
Population 7,651,531
General nature
Operational structure
Overviewed by Ministry of Public Security (Quebec)
Headquarters Montreal
Officers 5,229[1]
Elected officer responsible Jacques P. Dupuis, Ministre de la Sécurité publique
Agency executive Richard Deschesnes, Directeur Général
Districts 10
Website
http://www.suretequebec.gouv.qc.ca
Footnotes
* Divisional agency: Division of the country, over which the agency has usual operational jurisdiction.

The Sûreté du Québec or SQ (French: literally, "Quebec Security" or "Quebec Safety"; loosely and commonly, "Quebec Provincial Police" (QPP) and occasionally as "Quebec Police Force" (QPF); no official translation exists per the Charter of the French Language 1974) is the national police force[2] of Quebec. The headquarters of the Sûreté du Québec are located on Parthenais street in Montreal and the force employs roughly 5,163 officers.

The primary function of the Sûreté du Québec is to enforce provincial laws, some municipal bylaws, the criminal code, and many other laws throughout Quebec and to assist municipal police forces when needed. Members of the force can also act by law as forest conservation agents for example. The Sûreté du Québec is also responsible for providing municipal police services to municipalities in the province that do not otherwise have municipal or regional police services. By law, that includes municipalities with under 50,000 people. As such, the force is mainly present in small rural and suburban areas. The force also patrols provincial highways. In addition, the Sûreté du Québec can investigate any incident that involves wrong-doing by a municipal police force or a case where a police intervention caused death.

In the early 2000s, the force integrated many smaller police services (e.g., Drummondville and Saint-Hyacinthe).

Contents

[edit] History

 This section is incomplete and may require expansion or cleanup. Please help to improve the article, or discuss the issue on the talk page.

On May 1, 1870, the Quebec provincial government created the Police provinciale du Québec under the direction of Pierre-Antoine Doucet, a judge. This new force took over the headquarters of the Quebec City municipal police, which were then disbanded, although the city relaunched a municipal force in 1877.

In 1900, two distinct provincial police forces were created: the Office of Provincial Detectives of Montreal, in response to a crime wave in that city, and the Revenue Police, whose mission was to collect taxes. In 1902, the government decided that the provincial police should no longer be directed by a judge but by an officer of the police themselves. Augustin McCarthy was chosen as the first chief drawn from the ranks of the police.

In 1922, two headquarters were established, one in Quebec City, headed by McCarthy, and one in Montreal, headed by Dieudonné Daniel Lorrain. The Office of Provincial Detectives of Montreal became part of the general provincial police in that year. The Quebec division included 35 police officers and 2 detectives.

In 1925, police officers started patrolling on motorcycles.

[edit] Montebello Incident

The Quebec Provincial Police admitted in August 2007 that they had used undercover police posing as protestors at the 2007 Montebello SPP meetings. This admission was made after a video captured by protestors was widely circulated in the Canadian media and made available on YouTube [1]. Although use of undercover agents at protests of this kind is widespread, the video was especially controversial because it appeared to show one of the officers carrying a rock, suggesting to some the police may have been acting as agents provocateurs by inciting violence.

[edit] Chiefs and Directors-general

[edit] Districts

  1. Bas-Saint-Laurent-Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine
  2. Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean
  3. Capitale-Nationale-Chaudière-Appalaches
  4. Mauricie-Centre-du-Québec
  5. Estrie
  6. Montréal-Laval-Laurentides-Lanaudière
  7. Outaouais
  8. Abitibi-Témiscamingue-Nord-du-Québec
  9. Côte-Nord
  10. Montérégie

[edit] Rank badges

Rank insignia of the Sûreté du Québec are worn on the uniform jacket shoulders, or on slip ons.

The insignia are the following:

Rank Sergeant Lieutenant Captain Inspector
Insignia SQ-Lieutenant.PNG SQ-Captain.PNG SQ-Inspector.PNG
Rank Chief Inspector Deputy Director Director General of the QPP
Insignia SQ-Chief Inspector.PNG SQ-Deputy Director.PNG SQ-Director General.PNG

[edit] Fleet

A Dodge Charger police car from Sûreté du Québec
Ford Crown Victoria police cars from Sûreté du Québec

‎

An eighth generation Chevrolet Impala police car from Sûreté du Québec

Cars:

Trucks:

Motorcycles:

Special Vehicles:

Air:

Sea:

Wild:

Miscellaneous:

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.suretequebec.gouv.qc.ca/foire-aux-questions/faq-MotCles.jsp?themeMotCles=1&motClesMotCles=Policier
  2. ^ The Sûreté du Québec on Sûreté du Québec's official website. "As a national police force providing services to citizens, other police organizations and the State, the Sûreté du Québec is also a leader in..."

[edit] External links

Search Wikinews Wikinews has related news: Five arrested in Canada after C$2 million armoured car robbery
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%BBret%C3%A9_du_Qu%C3%A9bec"