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MONTREAL — Their job is to protect the public from rotten officers within the Montreal police department.

But the internal affairs squad was “a gang of cowboys” who looked out for friends, targeted enemies and smothered complaints of serious wrongdoing, according to a report that has shaken the country’s second-largest municipal police.

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Quebec Public Security Minister Martin Coiteux announced Wednesday the immediate suspension of Montreal police chief Philippe Pichet for up to a year, pending a further investigation that could lead to his reinstatement or his dismissal. Coiteux called the revelations about Montreal’s internal affairs division “damning” and said Pichet had not done enough to put things in order since he became chief in 2015.

The government appointed Martin Prud’homme, head of the provincial Sûreté du Québec, as acting chief with a mandate to clean up the internal affairs division.