Sûreté du Québec
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The Sûreté du Québec or SQ. (meaning "Safety of Quebec," but usually translated as "Quebec Provincial Police" or "Quebec Provincial Police Force") is the provincial police force of Quebec. The general headquarter of the Sûreté du Québec is located on Parthenais street in Montreal and the force employs roughly 5163 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. They can also act by law as forest conservation agents for example. The Sûreté du Québec is also responsible for providing municipal police services to localities in the province that do not otherwise have municipal or regional police services. By law, that includes not restricted to it, municipalities under 50,000. Therefore, they are mainly present in small rural and suburban localities and exclusively on the provincial highways. In addition, the Sûreté du Québec can investigates any incident that involves wrong-doing by a municipal police force or a case where a police intervention caused death.
Contrary to popular belief, the Sûreté du Québec has fewer officers than the City of Montreal Police Service. In the early 2000s, the force integrated many smaller police services (e.g., Drummondville and Saint-Hyacinthe).
[edit] History
On may 1st, 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] See also
- Police
- Service de police de la Ville de Montréal
- State police, Ontario Provincial Police, Royal Newfoundland Constabulary
- Royal Canadian Mounted Police
