Our Guiding Principles

We accomplish our mission and undertake our actions in such a way as to prioritize the public interest:

• By acting according to ethical standards and high standards of customer service;
• By optimally managing the resources granted to us;
• By being transparent while respecting the various privacy laws in force.

Our Mission 

The Commissaire à la déontologie policière oversees compliance with the Code of Ethics of Quebec Police Officers. It receives and processes, in accordance with the Police Act, complaints made against any person subject to this Code. Through its training, information and awareness-raising activities, it tries to prevent breaches.

Our vision

Accessible, credible and effective, recourse to the Commissaire à la déontologie policière helps to strengthen the necessary bond of trust between the population and peace officers and to ensure their professional conduct, while respecting each other's rights.

Our values

The following values ​​inspire the conduct of all actions of the Commissioner as well as those of the Deputy Commissioner and all staff members:

INDEPENDENCE. The Commissaire à la déontologie policière provides civilian oversight of the actions of peace officers. It is not linked to the police services and makes its decisions free from any outside interference or pressure.

IMPARTIALITY. In handling complaints received, we are unbiased and fair and equitable to all involved.

PROFESSIONALISM. We perform our duties with competence and honesty, with a constant concern for a job well done.

RESPECT. We treat people with consideration and courtesy.

EQUITY. We treat people fairly, without any discrimination and taking into consideration their personal characteristics in order to ensure equal benefits in access to our services.

Our Mandate

Our mandate is to receive, examine and process complaints made against police officers and other peace officers who have breached the Code of Ethics of Québec Police Officers.

Our handling of complaints is done with impartiality, independence, transparency and rigor.

The complaints we receive can be filed by any citizen and must concern a person subject to the Code of Ethics of Quebec Police Officers :

• police officers, except Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers;
• wildlife protection officers;
• special constables;
• road controllers;
• investigators from the Unité permanente anticorruption (UPAC);
• investigators from the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes (BEI).

The ethical breaches of these persons must have been committed in connection with the performance of their duties in relation to the public.

Our Actions

We undertake several actions to accomplish our mission and mandate :

• We inform, equip and educate people subject to the Code of Ethics of Quebec Police Officers, their employer and the population in order to prevent ethical breaches.
• We receive and analyze any complaint to determine if it is admissible, i.e. if we have the power to deal with it.
• We refer most admissible complaints to a conciliation meeting and conduct it.
• In some cases, we order an investigation and carry it out.
• We send recommendations and advice after some of our decisions, in order to help prevent a breach of the Code of Ethics of Quebec police officers.
• We decide whether or not to summon the police officer or peace officer targeted by the complaint after analyzing the investigation file, by filing a citation with the Police Ethics Committee.
• If we decide to cite, we provide representations before the Police Ethics Committee and before the higher courts (Court of Quebec, Superior Court, etc.), that is to say that one of our lawyers plead. It is important to note that this lawyer then represents the Commissaire à la déontologie policière, who is the prosecutor, and not the complainant.