This is a sleepy bedroom community of 16,000 on a loop of the Richelieu River 20 miles southeast of Montreal where calla lilies and petunias line the maple-shaded boulevards.
But the tranquility was shattered last week early one morning when Capt. Paul Quirion of the provincial police walked into the single-story red-brick police station and ordered the duty officer to call in all his patrols.
At that moment, at 6 a.m. Thursday, more than 350 of Quirion’s provincial police officers were raiding the homes of 142 people throughout Quebec, including those of all 24 uniformed members of the local police force in Chambly.
The raids, conducted throughout Quebec, culminated a five-month undercover investigation into drug trafficking, protection rackets, the receiving of stolen goods, prostitution, the sale of contraband liquor, tobacco and steroids, and even the filing of false income tax returns. At one home in Montreal, two shots were fired, but no one was wounded, and the gunman was captured.
As for the operation in Chambly, it was the first time in Quebec’s history that an entire local police department had been taken over by provincial police.
Many residents said they were not surprised.
“Everyone knew about rumors of drug dealing,” said Dominique Gagnon, a 17-year-old high school student. “It seemed the police were never around. I cannot remember even seeing a car ever stopped for a traffic offense.”
In the vestibule of the police station, a poster shows a uniformed officer and a young boy with the message, in French, “When I grow up, I want to be just like you.” Mounted on a wall inside the station for instruction is a display of a bong and other pipes, hemp, pills and other items of the drug trade.
At a news conference over the weekend in the Chambly town hall, Mayor Pierre Bourbonnais, a former Montreal police officer, announced that as of Saturday police duties had been returned to the local force, minus five suspended officers. One police officer, charged with trafficking in controlled substances, is among 30 who have been arraigned so far, while others are to be brought before a Quebec court, said Crown prosecutor Madeleine Giauque of Longueuil, a nearby community where the cases are being heard.
The force is now headed temporarily by Lt. Real Lague of the provincial police, or the Surete du Quebec. Capt. Robert Pouliot, who was the acting police chief, has been reassigned to other municipal duties at his request.
Bourbonnais promised a “complete investigation” into the administration, ethics and discipline of the department and said the authorities were trying to assure residents that the remaining officers on the force were not corrupt.
While some officers still may face disciplinary action if they knew about the illegal activities and did nothing, he stressed that there was no need to replace the entire force.
