Montreal police officer accused of deleting domestic violence evidence from victim's phone

A member of the Montreal police force is accused of deleting video evidence from the phone of a domestic violence victim. The officer allegedly removed the video after watching it and recognizing the perpetrator. The CBC's Kwabena Adoro is on the story and joins us live from Montreal. So police just held a news conference. Kwabena, what did we hear? Andrew, Police Chief Fadi Degar is not happy that this has happened. He said that he has no pity for an officer who would do something like this. Now, this officer is being accused of allegedly deleting evidence from a victim's phone because he knew the suspect in a domestic violence intervention. But this is not the first time. This year that the Montreal Police Force has come under scrutiny. Back in the summer, four officers were suspended after an internal investigation into alleged racism and misconduct were found. And then a few weeks ago, it came out that a downtown station here in Montreal, that an officer allegedly urinated on unhoused people, sometimes while they slept. Now, Mr. Dagar says that he... He says that this is humiliating, this stains the name of the police force and he says in terms of the domestic violence allegations, that is very unacceptable. It's humiliating, it's humiliating, it doesn't make sense. For all those cops that are doing an amazing job, they're risking their life 24 hour 24, no kidding. It's ridiculous, it's absolutely ridiculous, I can't, you know, I'm being very serious, I've been honest, this is what I'm telling you, my police officers. Trahison, they feel betrayed, shame, lied to. And when Mr. Degar first took the job, one of the things that he wanted to do, he wanted to change the culture within the SPVM. And that is something that he still says that he wants to do. Now, he says that in terms of the officers at station 39 and 21, they will be serious. Consequences for the wrongdoings, but he wouldn't go into detail to what they are. And he says that they are also going to release what they are trying to do to reform Station 21 and 39 and other stations to make the SPVM better. And what are we hearing from Montreal's mayor and community groups? So for Montreal's mayor, she says that she has full confidence in the police chief that he is trying to effect change. But she also said yesterday that this puts a stain and it makes her rethink about the trust in the police service. But today she walked that back and said that she has full trust in the police chief. Let's hear what she had to say. What we saw yesterday is, again, something that shakes the trust. The trust between citizens and the police is very fragile when we see events like the ones we saw yesterday. I salute the police, the woman police officer that actually denounced what happened. When we change a culture inside of an organization, it takes time and we see resistance. And we have to trust that our director of the SPVM has all the intentions to change that culture. So the opposition at City Hall wants Mr. Dagar, the police chief, to come before council and answer their questions. There was a motion that was adopted earlier this month, but the thing with that adoption of that motion is that he wouldn't go see them immediately. Now, they want him to go immediately. And I talked to some civil rights groups, and they say that the trust between police and the community is already broken. Pierre has many citizens angry because there is no action. There is no real action put in place to protect citizens from abuses and rights violations from the police officers of the SPVM. And it's not just this year. It's been for decades. Police services, they are a source of rights violations and insecurity. It means that some people in society, they fear police on a daily basis. So I did ask the police chief what the consequences will be. And he told me, give us time, not even a month, and we will release what the consequences for the officers who have committed alleged wrongdoings will be. Andrew? Thank you. That is the CBC's Querina Maduro, live in Montreal.