Home > Citizen Services > Public Safety > History of the Public Security Division History of the Public Security Division The Public Security Division of the City of Pointe-Claire was founded in March 1993. Before then, the inspectors were mostly parking attendants. With time, the division evolved in many ways. At the beginning, four inspectors were patrolling the City in yellow mini-vans, offering their services between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m., Monday to Saturday, and worked under the supervision of the Head of Division of Public Security and the Director of the Fire Department. Their tasks were the same ones as today and included the enforcement of municipal by-laws, animal control, neighbourhood watch and assistance to citizens.
In 1994, the division changed its time cover : five part-time inspectors were added to the permanent inspectors and service hours were increased to seven (7) days a week, from 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m.
In 1996, the administration increased the fleet of vehicles from 4 to 5 mini-vans and changed the colour from yellow to white. During the same year, the City Council took advantage of the construction of the police station (district 5) and the expansion of the fire station to invest in the construction of a public security station at the cost of slightly more than $ 900,000.
On May 1st 1997, the Public Security Division moved into its new offices. The fleet of vehicles was renewed and in July of the same year, the Division hired a second staff officer. By August, the Division reached its peak by offering a 24-hour a day service, 365 days a year. Since then, the staff of inspectors includes four permanent, eight part-time and two inspectors on call.
In January 2002, following the municipal mergers, the Public Security Division no longer comes under the jurisdiction of the Fire Department, but answers directly to the Borough Office Director. The services offered to the population, however, remain the same. In October, the West Island Communication Centre was created following the dismantling of the telephone call centres of several former cities such as Baie d'Urfé, Beaconsfield, Dorval, Pierrefonds, Pointe-Claire and Senneville. The Communication Centre deals with calls concerning public security, public works outside of regular hours and 9-1-1 calls concerning public works.
With the infrastructure and the operational structure that we currently know, the Public Security Division of the City of Pointe-Claire remains one of the largest bodies of the region of Montreal in matters of public safety, and is the envy of several regional police and public security departments because of the experience and the quality of the services offered by its personnel.
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