When Fady Dagher was chosen as Montreal’s next police chief in 2023, expectations were high he would help improve relations with the city’s diverse population and confront concerns about discrimination within the department.

He acknowledged at the time that it wasn’t going to happen overnight, but there had been signs of progress in the three years since. Dagher had recruited more officers from different cultural backgrounds, sought closer ties with community leaders, set a fresh tone within the ranks, and implemented a strategy to address racial profiling that involved tracking complaints.

The disturbing allegations of racist abuse by officers in Montreal North that came to light Friday are a repudiation of all that Dagher has ever stood for.

But at the same time, the fact that they surfaced at all shows that the culture change he is trying to bring to the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) may be slowly taking hold.

Late Friday night, Dagher summoned reporters to police headquarters, where he revealed that the night patrol in Station 39 had been disbanded just over an hour earlier. A total of 16 officers were removed from active duty and could face disciplinary action — or even criminal charges if prosecutors decide they’re warranted.

The abuse alleged is repugnant: that these mostly male recent recruits were in the habit of collecting trophies from suspects by cutting the dreadlocks and hair from Black and Arab men they........

© Montreal Gazette