By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

Hampstead council voted unanimously, in a voice vote, to grant Mayor Jeremy Levi the power to appoint special constables in case of an emergency in the town.

The bylaw points out that Quebec’s Police Act enables a council to grant the Mayor this power.

“In case of emergency, the Mayor is authorized to appoint, in writing, for a period not exceeding seven days, special constables with authority, under the supervision of the Director of the Montreal Police Service, to prevent and suppress offences under the municipal bylaws within all or part of the territory of the Town of Hampstead.”

During question period, the Mayor further explained that now that the bylaw has been passed, “I have instructed our Director General to consult with legal counsel to develop a working framework to analyze what would merit an emergency, what qualifies as an emergency.

“A special constable is a particular status of a peace officer in Quebec with a specific type of training and certification. It’s important to note that if and when a special constable is appointed, it’s under the Director of the SPVM. It’s a work in progress.”

Levi added that “obviously, the hostile environment that we’ve witnessed over the past few months has pushed us to look for all avenues with regards to Public Security as well.

“I’m not going to get into details of what we have done, for security reasons, but we are looking at making significant changes to Public Security, in a good way, and I’ll leave it at that.” n