BY RAFFY BOUDJIKANIAN

raffy.boudjikanian@transcontinental.ca

A brand new logo will soon adorn all Montreal police officers' uniforms. The five-pointed star that also resembles a human silhouette will trickle down to all officers by 2010.

Likewise, all police vehicles will sport the new logo as well, and cars in the West Island sector should start having by early 2008, according to Pierre Brochet, community service chief in the western region.

"We are like a family in the Montreal Island now," Brochet said, "and we wanted a new logo to show that approach."

With police officers now patrolling the metro stations of the city, and Green Onions a part of the force, the SPVM needed a new symbol to show that these various branches are all part of the same organization, Brochet said.

The new logo is part of a long-term transformation plan for the Montreal police that began just over a year ago with the merger of several neighbourhood police stations.

"The new corporate logo symbolizes the police's global approach in terms of maintaining peace and public security," Catherine Sévigny, Ville Marie borough councillor and member of the agglomeration council's public security commission, said.

Brochet said that the next part of the plan calls for the installation of individual police teams called "modules action projet" at each local neighbourhood station. "We're going to have better capacity to analyze different problems," Brochet said, adding the team would be able to focus on specific problems plaguing their assigned community, such as speeding on certain streets or local gangs, by establishing a rapport with the community as well as other officers assigned at the station.

"We also want to create consultation roundtables in each borough or municipality, where the mayor is going to be in charge," Brochet said.

Local station commanders and fire station chiefs would also sit at the table, creating a more tangible link between elected officials and law enforcement officers, Brochet said.