The number of calls for special constables to intervene has jumped in 2023 in the metro, revealed Thursday the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), which has just added dozens of resources to tackle growing insecurity in his network.
Some 47,000 reports were in fact initiated last year to obtain help from special constables, compared to barely 42,000 in 2022, a significant increase of 12% in just 12 months. Last year, 17,000 of the 42,000 calls concerned a “vulnerable” person, most often homeless, of whom 600 were supported.
According to the president of the company, Eric Alan Caldwell, this illustrates that the insecurity felt by users since the pandemic should no longer be seen as “a temporary phenomenon”. “It’s a new reality to which we must adjust. Safety has become a priority issue for us,” he said Thursday at a press conference at Place-des-Arts station.
Its teams have already had six “safety ambassadors” for several weeks, a new position first mentioned last spring in The Press. In blue uniform, their mandate is to ensure a reassuring presence for users, in addition to detecting elements of potential violence. However, they cannot use force and must call on constables or police officers if necessary.
The organization aims to hire 15 more “ambassadors” by spring; a sum of $600,000 has been set aside for this program.
“It’s really about being present in the entrances, the platforms, at the entrance to the turnstiles. In all the stations, people can approach us,” says Philippe Gagnon, one of these “ambassadors”. “There are cameras that follow us and can tell us if there are problems. We have a whole system around us that is in place to react quickly,” adds his colleague William Martin.
Fewer police
Around fifteen social constables have also been added in recent weeks, for a total of 200. The STM also promises to be “more responsive” in terms of cleanliness, with the hiring of 20 new maintenance workers who will target stations busier. Total investments: $5 million.
What our customers tell us is that to feel safe on the metro, they need to see us more.
Éric Alan Caldwell, president of the STM
All this occurs while SPVM metro patrol officers have not been carrying out regular surveillance for several weeks. They now focus on issues specifically linked to crime such as drug trafficking. Calls to 911 for events in the metro are therefore handled by neighborhood stations (PDQ) spread across the territory.
Financially, this change allowed the City of Montreal to reduce its contribution for “police services” in the metro from 17.8 to 14.4 million between 2022 and 2023.
Basically, this change of model allows above all “more efficiency”, affirms the director and fire safety of the STM, Jocelyn Latulippe. “Before, when something happened, you had to make a report and send it to investigators or police units, so the time of vulnerability between the crime and the arrest was much longer. There, the model of our constables is dedicated to intervention. »
“When there is a theft, an assault or a theft in the metro, it will result in a much higher arrest rate. Within four days, if the person continues to roam the network, they will be arrested. It’s a unique formula in North America,” insists Mr. Latulippe.
At least three duos from the Metro Intervention and Consultation Team (EMIC), made up of a special constable and a police officer, will nevertheless continue to crisscross the metro continuously, in addition to the Mobile Mediation Team and of social intervention (ÉMMIS), which notably employs social workers.