In the event of an emergency, we are fortunate that we can count on Sûreté du Quebec police officers to respond quickly and professionally. Brome-Missisquoi MRC crime statistics for 2022-23 show that our police officers are busy with crucial crime and security issues. Cases of sexual assault and child protection are up. Traffic accidents causing death and serious injury increased. Break-ins, car theft, and other property crimes are also edging up. Police are needed there.
But there are other serious problems where the SQ is needed. Speeding is out of control on many of our streets and roads, and dangerous driving is all too common. The Town of Brome Lake is buying six new speed radar signs hoping that these will help slow speeders. They may, but what is really needed are speed- ing tickets and a much more visible police presence.
The speeding problem is everywhere. On the dirt roads of West Bolton, which are rarely patrolled, trucks and cars tear around at 80, 100 km/h, and sometimes faster because speeders know they will never get stopped no matter how dangerously they drive.
Don’t blame the officers. The problem is with SQ management, and how the provincial government has set up the way we are charged for SQ policing services.
The 20 communities in our MRC pay a lot of money for SQ services. Rates are not based on need or population. Rather, SQ rates are driven largely by property values in each of these communities. Affluent communities pay much more for SQ services than other communities. It is a redistribution-of-wealth scheme rather than a service tailored to the specific needs of a community. The Town of Brome Lake, for example, paid $2.3 million in 2023 for SQ services, roughly $387 per resident. West Bolton paid about $334 per resident – a lot of money for a town that rarely sees police patrols. At the other end of the spectrum, Brome paid about $135 per resident, and Cowansville and Farnham even less.
In theory, it is a system that could work. But in practice, it does not. The specific needs of communities like Brome Lake and West Bolton – where speeding and traffic violations are a priority problem – are not being addressed adequately. What is more, the SQ has recently cut patroller jobs in our MRC, even as complaints about traffic violations increase and the cost of SQ services soars.
It is little wonder that TBL wants to arrange local policing with Bromont, which has one of the few remaining local police forces in Quebec. Everyone knows you don’t speed in Bromont.
But joining with Bromont is unlikely. The SQ is dead set against it, and provincial politicians side with the police force. No surprise there.
Municipal officials urge residents to not give up, and to file complaints about speeders and speeding. Unfortunately, these complaints seem to fall on deaf ears. The SQ needs to do much better. It needs to find ways to better serve all our communities.
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