The size of the police force remained roughly the same from the beginning of the century until 1930, when it hired more staff in the context of the Wall Street Crash of 1929.

One of the most famous operations of the Montreal police service was the undercover assignment of Robert Ménard between 1970-1976 who bugged the Reggio Bar owned by Paolo Violi, the underboss of the Cotroni family.

[4] The SPVM is led by Fady Dagher, Director (chief of police), who took over in January 2023 from Sophie Roy, who was in an interim position after Sylvain Caron retired.

[13] and Diemaco C8 assault rifle are also stocked by the SPVM and its Emergency Response Team armory, but these long guns are rarely used.

[15] In 1988, José Carlos Garcia, 43, was killed by an SPVM officer leading to a Sûreté du Québec investigation and a coroner's inquest.

[16][14] That same year, Jorge Chavarria-Reyes was shot by a plainclothes officer leading to a Sûreté du Québec investigation and a coroner's inquest.

[19][14] On 3 November 2005, the United Nations Human Rights Committee advised the Canadian government to allow an enquiry on the SPVM about its mass arrests tactic during political demonstrations.

[26] In 2008, Fredy Villanueva was shot by SPVM Officer Jean-Loup Lapointe leading to multiple protests and increased public discourse about racial profiling.

[28] In 2011, Mario Hamel, a homeless man, was shot by Montreal police officers leading to criticism of SPVM training.

[33] In 2014, Alain Magloire, a mentally ill and homeless individual, was killed during a police intervention leading to a Coroner's inquest.

[14][35] In June 2016, the Quebec Minister of Public Security introduced an independent agency, the "Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes (BEI)", to be responsible for investigating "shootings, serious injuries and deaths stemming from police interventions".

[38] The structure of the agency itself was criticized for lacking independent powers, since the BEI "acts only at the request of the Minister of Public Security".

[43] In January 2021, the SPVM evoked controversy when they mistakenly arrested a Polytechnique Montréal professor in the Park Extension neighbourhood.

The man spent six days in prison, before being cleared on charges of disarming and assaulting a police officer, while the actual suspect remains at large.