Head of Quebec provincial police suspended as criminal allegation probed

Public Security Minister Genevieve Guilbault told reporters Prud’homme has not been arrested, but he was relieved of his duties Wednesday after the government learned of the allegation a day earlier.

Guilbault said the investigation will be conducted by Quebec’s police watchdog. She named the police force’s deputy director, Mario Bouchard, as his interim replacement.

“As minister of public security I was informed yesterday … of an allegation involving criminal offences involving the director of the Surete du Quebec, Martin Prud’homme,” Guilbault told reporters. She wouldn’t give any details of the nature of the allegation or when the offences are alleged to have occurred.

Guilbault said the decision to temporarily suspend Prud’homme was “administrative” and officially made by the secretariat that advises the government on senior public servants.

“Our government reacted quickly in order to reassure the population, to protect the institution of the Surete du Quebec, to preserve the public’s confidence in our institutions, and especially, to avoid harming the ongoing investigation,” Guilbault said.

Prud’homme recently returned to the provincial police after one year as interim chief of Montreal’s police force. He was brought in to deal with internal turmoil following the suspension of the city’s police chief, Philippe Pichet, in December 2017.

An independent report found irregularities in the Montreal police department’s internal investigations unit and a hostile and vengeful climate among officers.

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