A few days before the Formula 1 Grand Prix, the director of the Montreal Police Service (SPVM), Fady Dagher, returned to the charge with the idea of billing the promoters of major events for security services. This type of event, especially when they take place simultaneously, requires significant police resources, the police chief argued Monday.
Faced with budgetary constraints, the SPVM wants “very large promoters” such as the organization of the Canadian Grand Prix and Evenko to contribute to the costs related to security services. “There will have to be some reflection. It is not a question of starting to bill bodies that carry out community activities or NPOs. That’s not that at all,” assured Fady Dagher on Monday during a press conference to present the results of the SPVM’s activities in 2023. “Does it absolutely require police officers or could it partly private security that the developer pays for? »
During private events, police officers often have to work overtime, he recalled. “They are exhausted. »
While pleading in favor of a “festive city”, the SPVM is calling for greater consultation in the planning of major events to be involved in decisions and minimize the impacts for its service. “We want to be able to talk to each other before the permit is issued,” underlined Mr. Dagher, who would like to avoid holding several events simultaneously that could harm normal police operations. Discussions have already taken place, he said, citing the organizers of the Grand Prix. “It wasn’t a closure. »
“I understand very well that there are authorities who will say the opposite of what I am telling you,” however, Mr. Dagher said.
This is not the first time the police chief has made this suggestion. Last November, before the commission on finance and administration of the City of Montreal, Fady Dagher declared that promoters should themselves assume the costs of security surrounding the events they organize. Valérie Plante had refused to allow festivals and major cultural events to be billed for police services, believing that other solutions to the SPVM’s financial problems should be found. His cabinet reiterated this position on Monday without commenting on the specific case of the Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Crimes on the rise
The SPVM has also made public its annual report for 2023 and the data shows an increase in crime in the metropolis. In 2023, the SPVM recorded just over 31,009 crimes against the person, an increase of 13.2% compared to 2022 and 29.4% when we examine the average of the last five years. Crimes against property, for their part, saw an increase of 11% with 62,384 events recorded.
In terms of homicides, the revised toll reaches 31, which includes the seven deaths linked to the fire which ravaged a building in Old Montreal in March 2023. As for attempted murders, there were 110 of them, i.e. 10% more than the previous year.
On the other hand, the number of crimes involving firearms fell last year. From 563 in 2022, their number increased to 469 last year, a drop of 16.7%.
The SPVM has observed a significant increase in cases of dangerous driving, a situation that it attributes to the jump experienced last year in car thefts with 11,756 reported events. This trend regarding dangerous driving will continue in 2024, it was specified.
And since the start of 2024, 17 murders have been recorded on the territory of the island of Montreal. “What is worrying is to see that for a trivial matter, sometimes there is a fight and it ends in an attempted murder,” underlined Mr. Dagher.
The police chief had made recruitment one of his priorities when he took office more than a year ago. In 2023, the SPVM hired 312 police officers and had 4,421 on its staff. The SPVM claims to have ended the year with 91 more police officers than the number of departures that occurred during the year.
Fady Dagher also presented the broad outlines of the SPVM 2024-2026 Strategic Plan. This plan, which aims to bring people closer together, includes holding a pilot project for a mobile counter accessible in public places.