The City of Côte Saint-Luc has always maintained an excellent relationship with our local police commanders.
Since I began serving on council in 2005, we have had four commanders for Police Station 9– which covers Côte Saint-Luc, Hampstead and Montreal West: Réne Allard, Sylvain Bissonnette, Marc Cournoyer and now Jean O`Malley.
Commander O`Malley began his tour of duty here recently. And because Police Station 11 in NDG is presently without a commander, he is covering that area as well until the post is filled. We invited him to meet with council in caucus, a traditional move on our part.
Most recently Commander O`Malley was the head of Police Station 45 in Rivière-des-Prairies. Prior to that he was stationed downtown and at one time even worked for the Ontario Provincial Police. He is a resident of the South Shore and takes great pride in his past time as a tennis pro.
We are very fortunate to have the actual police station in our community – and in District 2 – at the corner of Cavendish and Kildare. A number of years ago the Montreal Police Department was looking at abolishing our local station and merging it with Station 11. Along with Hampstead and Montreal West, we lobbied successfully to ensure that did not happen.
Commander O`Malley inherits a hard working team which has a real presence on our streets. They work hard on traffic enforcement, combat criminal activity and try to keep us safe in many different ways. Their Coffee With a Cop Program at the local McDonald`s Restaurants, in which citizens are invited to sit down and chat with their neighbourhood police officers, has really helped promote good community relations. Commander O`Malley said that he plans to expand this program and have members of his team take the coffee with them and go into seniors residences. "We want to sit down and meet with people who cannot necessarily get out to come see us," he said.
Good luck Commander. We look forward to working with you.
Oh yes, the Rembrandt Park Tennis Courts are only a short walk away from the station, so perhaps you'd like to join us one day as a guest instructor?
