Every time shots are fired in the metropolis, voices are raised to demand more action to “prevent” armed violence, for everyone’s safety. But what is it exactly? The duty made a brief foray into neighborhood station 30 (PDQ 30) of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), located in the heart of the Saint-Michel district, to see how we deal with young people to prevent them from sliding into crime.
François-Perrault Park, adjacent to the high school of the same name, was very calm on this spring Wednesday afternoon. However, it is one of the places under high surveillance in the district.
Not so long ago, the Maison du citoyen recreation center in this park was the scene of a drive-by shooting.
Supervisor Sergeant Yves Experience-Nozieux – simply called Sergeant Experience by his colleagues – looks around the park. Himself a “former youngster” from this multi-ethnic neighborhood, he points to the places where young people gather in the area.
“ The situation is much more violent today than 30 years ago”, slice Harry Delva, who is at the head of the team of “urban mediators” who patrol without uniform in this park, and in all the places where young people find each other — even in the summer when school breaks.
Our job is to protect them and support them in their environment, on a daily basis, sums up the man, who has been working in the sector for more than 30 years. They are told what will happen if they continue on the path of criminality, “to put an end to the feeling of impunity”.
“We are the conscience of young people,” he says.
He knows that teenagers have weapons on them, and that some use them to settle their conflicts. “I meet young people here [à l’école]. I know those who are problematic, who have an attraction towards a form of delinquency or criminality, who have a particular attraction for weapons, ”he continues.
Mr. Delva approaches them by making jokes, talking about this and that, before tackling more delicate subjects. The mediators come from the neighborhood and its cultural communities. Haitians or North Africans, “they know the mores of young people” and can be models for them, says the man, met in a room at the high school Joseph-François-Perrault, where he spends a good part of his time.
“From the first year of secondary school, I tell them: I am your best friend. Don’t take it all on yourself. I can help you with the problems. »
But of course there are those who don’t want to know anything about me, he admits.
How do we catch these?
A silence. “We make the link with the socio-community agents of the SPVM. Where I slip away, someone else can pick up the slack. »
The police can adapt their intervention, intervenes Sergeant Experience, who has 18 years of experience. That is to say, the best option may be not to lay charges and to opt for a follow-up that does not knock out the young person with a criminal record: it will then be easier for him to do so. ‘alternative.
“I treat the young person with respect. Not like a criminal. So when there is a problem, he is more likely to perceive a police intervention as legitimate, he explains.
In addition to the urban mediators, the young people of the secondary schools of Saint-Michel come across two SPVM police officers every day – always the same faces – who are there after class. These neighborhood elders chat with young people to build relationships and defuse conflict. It’s a positive presence, describes Sergeant Experience: they meet police officers, without tension.
This question of prevention was at the heart of the recent Montreal Forum for the fight against armed violence, organized by the SPVM and the mayor, Valérie Plante, who is concerned about the use of violence and weapons by young people.
Police and community
François-Perrault Park is also where the commander of PDQ 30, Claude Lizotte, goes to have his morning coffee. “Because it’s important to read the neighborhood,” he says.
He is aware of the “problematic” image of the sector that is relayed in the media. But 95% of young people don’t cause any problems, he says.
He enthusiastically describes the police strengths of his position, including two socio-community officers, who go to schools to talk about the law and cyberbullying, and two from the Community Consultation and Outreach Team.
And since 16 or 17 may be a little late to dissipate the financial lure of crime, the Commandant has stepped up efforts in primary schools. By the end of the year, he promises, the students will experience three positive activities with the police, including one with the police on horseback.
The commander has another secret weapon: Marlène Dessources, a “counsellor in consultation” who is the “eyes of the SPVM” in the community organizations of the sector. She sees what is happening there, including the parents who are out of breath and need help.
The community fabric is tightly woven in this neighborhood. And without these organizations, the prevention net would be incomplete.
In front of a low-rent housing complex where she goes frequently, Ms.me Dessources thus illustrates his work. A teenager had been arrested for robberies and selling drugs. “I went to meet the family and said to the mother: if I had a magic wand, what would you want? She opened the fridge: it was empty. “We assessed the needs and bought food and also sports equipment”. Because she saw that the young man could not do with others. That’s also prevention, she says.
Sergeant Experience shows the site of the defunct enclave of unsanitary HLMs, called “Plan Robert”. Poverty was present there, like street gangs, fomenting clashes with the police. Now, brand new housing has been erected there, housing community services, such as a youth center and Mon Resto, which serves meals at good prices and also serves as a food bank. SPVM representatives are greeted as old acquaintances.
Not far from there, young people were using drugs in vacant homes in the area, reports Sergeant Experience. The police went door to door to meet all the families in the area, thus avoiding targeting those of the young people who used drugs. “We intervene before doing repression. »
Young people must have activities to stay away from crime, they all hammered. Before, when there were more Haitians in the neighborhood, basketball was in the spotlight, but now it’s soccer that is popular with young North Africans. The SPVM created the Soccer à cœur project to prevent crime.
Sergeant Experience has also set up a workshop to promote emergency trades, like his own.
The objective is to show other avenues to young people. “We realized that a basic problem is access to employment,” concluded Commander Lizotte, who even directly challenged employers in the sector.
In Saint-Michel, the prevention net is clearly a joint effort.