Home Police Laval Police Department innovates for the benefit of its citizens

Laval Police Department innovates for the benefit of its citizens

The Laval Police Department (SPL) announces the deployment of its new public security service, which will be implemented by 2023. The redeployment of staff will make it possible to recover 20,000 hours to reinvest them in the field, in addition to 40,000 hours of proactive work to meet the needs of citizens. New squads will make it possible to be even closer to the people and provide additional capacity/resources to respond to the challenges faced in the territory. The distribution of facilities will also be adapted to better respond to the geographic reality of the City.

“The Laval Police Department will innovate to be more visible, more accessible and more present on the ground. Laval is a city in full growth, in full expansion, in full evolution. We will now have the agility to face the future and to go even further in carrying out our mission, that of ensuring the safety of Laval residents,” says Pierre Brochet, director of the SPL.

Prevention and proximity at the heart of the vision:

A new outreach approach will guide the prevention efforts of the Service and the 20 or so community intervention agents who will form the new Prevention squad. Community intervention agents from neighborhood stations and those from the Coordination, Prevention and Intelligence will be part of the security strategy.

In order to deal with a growing phenomenon, a Sexual Crimes squad will be set up to ensure better handling of complaints and support for victims. This squad will tackle issues such as pimping, sexual assault, human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of minors head-on. In addition, in order to support victims emotionally, the Service will welcome a support dog who will be paired with an investigator. The duo will work closely with the Sex Crimes Squad and on some sensitive police interventions.

Effective and adapted interventions:

Another novelty, the Azimut squad, will have the mandate to counter criminal phenomena, public disorder, incivility and issues in terms of road and traffic safety, while maintaining relationships of trust. The police officers of this squad will work on specific issues with concrete action plans for a proactive response to complaints from citizens.

The first Azimut team will be in service by March 2021 at the latest, and the second team will be created by September 2021. They will be installed in the premises of neighborhood stations 1 and 4, at the end of the city, but the police officers will be distributed throughout the territory.

Azimut will work closely with the Prevention Squad and the Social Emergency Division for concerted efforts. A more consistent distribution over the next three years, the Service will operate in two regions and grow from eight to five facilities, including a new gendarmerie post in the West. This new distribution will allow police work in an East-West axis and will improve the response time to emergency calls.

In 2023, the Service will, therefore, have five main facilities: a gendarmerie post in the West, a gendarmerie post in the East, two Azimut posts at the eastern and western ends of the city and an Investigation and Support Center.

The Headquarters will be located at the new Gendarmerie Ouest, which will be built on Curé-Labelle Boulevard and inaugurated in the fall of 2023.

This building will also house the Intelligent Security Management Center, a floor entirely dedicated to the protection of citizens in real time 24/7 on the territory, which will include the Emergency Measures Coordination Center, the Police Operations Center, and the Intelligent Operational Monitoring Center.

As for the redeployment of neighborhood stations, it will be done gradually in order to ensure the continuity of services during the transition. Neighborhood stations 1 and 4 will accommodate the two teams of the new Azimut squad. The closing of neighborhood stations 2, 3, 5 and 6 will take place no later than spring 2022.

Citizen service counters will remain available to the population in each of the five SPL facilities and all services will be maintained. People will also be able to use remote services. “Nowadays, proximity is no longer just physical and it is not qualified by the number of buildings. The new offer is the result of in-depth reflection. We are a local police force and thanks to the innovations that will be implemented, we will be even more so,” stated Director Brochet.

Other innovative projects in 2021:

A pilot project will be set in motion with Urgence Sociale, a team of social workers integrated into the structure of the Service. Social workers will be deployed on the road in patrol mode to intervene even more quickly in complex situations that affect psychosocial issues, including mental health, and that require adapted interventions.

Stakeholders will continue to work closely with police and partners:

The Laval Police Department (SPL) will also continue to develop the Intelligent Operational Vigilance Center (CIVO), whose main mission is to use all the information available in the field of public security and to transmit information to the police in the field, but also to other areas of the service.

The CIVO will be an added value to the new vision as it will contribute to the effectiveness of frontline interventions. The establishment of this new entity is a first in Quebec.

For more details on the new services offered, see the information page on the SPL website: https://www.laval.ca/Pages/Fr/Nouvelles/microsite-police/nouvelle_offre_de_service.aspx