MRC des Collines police understaffed, overworked, union says

The union representing police officers in the MRC des Collines-de-l'Outaouais says a personnel shortage is forcing members to work mandatory overtime, leading to what it describes as "a very difficult work climate."

Manuel Bandeira, president of the Fraternité des policiers et policières de la MRC des Collines-de-l'Outaouais, says about a dozen positions are currently vacant on the force, whose jurisdiction includes the western Quebec municipalities of Pontiac, La Pêche, Chelsea, Cantley, Val-des-Monts and L'Ange Gardien.

Bandeira said that's been extremely hard on the officers who are left to fill those gaps.

"We have a very difficult work climate and work relations at the moment," he said in French.

Jean-Mathieu Lafleur, the union's vice-president, told CBC burnout is high among young officers who have been working mandatory overtime. He said some officers have had to take sick leave to recuperate, which he called "abnormal for a small police service."

Lafleur said he fears if these issues are not addressed soon, the police force could fall into "survival mode."

"It's going to create more and more sick leaves, short-term leaves, long-term leaves, because people are just going to be exhausted," he said.

Recruitment a challenge

Lafleur said one reason for the personnel shortage is that the regional administration is failing to attract and retain new recruits.

"[A] short-term solution is to put a policy for attraction and retention that is competitive with Gatineau, with Ottawa police, with Sûreté du Québec. That would allow us to bring more people in," he said.

Another potential solution would be to place higher-ranking officers on a callback list, increasing the number of officers available to work overtime, he said.

Lafleur said the force has been experiencing these issues since the current collective agreement was signed in 2023. In addition to the staffing issue, Lafleur sited a lack of communication between the union and management, which is why the union requested a meeting with Marc Carrière, warden of MRC des Collines-de-l'Outaouais.

Carrière told Radio Canada he recently held a four-hour meeting with the union executive to discuss the challenges facing the police force, and to hear the union's proposed solutions.

He said the county is not unique in its struggle to recruit officers, adding he plans to establish a committee to tackle the problem.

"Everybody agrees that there are some issues and that we have to find solutions," Carrière said.