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The City of Laval has signed an agreement with the Quebec Provincial Provincial Police, allowing the QPP from the Laval-Laurentides-Lanaudière area to use Laval’s Chomedey Boulevard prisoner detention centre. The agreement, which was signed last week by members of the Laval executive committee and the QPP chief-inspector for the region, has 28 holding cells, investigation rooms and interrogation chambers. Prisoners detained there by the QPP will be mostly from the Laurentian region
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New chapter in policing
The agreement marks the opening of a new chapter of cooperation in Quebec between police forces working at different levels. Prior to June 2008, when the National Assembly amended legislation governing police in the province, municipalities could not enter into agreements to furnish police services for transporting or detaining prisoners. Personnel working at the detention centre have all received training in specialized pieces of police equipment, such as the Taser stun gun.
In addition to its regular facilities, the detention centre has special rooms for minors who may be involved in certain cases. The agreement is expected to save both the QPP and the City of Laval a lot of money, given the high cost of providing prisoner detention services. There are hopes other players in the region, like the City of Mascouche, will also agree to come on board and take advatage of the economies of scale achieved by taking advantage of a regional detention facility. In the coming weeks, St. Eustache and Deux-Montagnes are expected to formally sign into the agreement.
Users will be billed
It costs the City of Laval about $1.5 million annually to operate its detention centre. Regional users will be billed on a basis that the city’s chief of citizen protection, Jean-Pierre Gariépy, compared to hotel tarification. Fees will be levied on an hourly, daily, or per-service basis for prisoner transportation, lodging, food consumed, etc. “This source of revenue will allow Laval’s annual operating costs for the detention centre to be brought down,” he said. The shared facility is also expected to free up police personnel in the regional communities, meaning police will be more available for patrol and other routine duties.