It would be more important to know the real causes of the increase in crime in Montreal in certain neighborhoods, rather than to learn from the media that the police presence will be increased, in these same neighborhoods, to ensure the safety of the streets. For the average citizen of which I am, this is not very reassuring.
The shameful, even degrading images of the intervention of the Quebec police officers last weekend are not reassuring. On the contrary, they are devastating in terms of people’s trust in law enforcement. No, I am not an expert in the field, but I sincerely believe that increasing the police presence in a red light district will not solve the problem of armed violence, but rather the reverse. This violence will increase dramatically, exponentially even with the number of agents present on the ground. Here, Paris, Toronto, Brussels are perfect examples. Where the police forces gain visibility, this same armed violence is gaining ground and extending its territory to other places.
As we know, the issue of handgun control is a sensitive subject that no level of government seems to want to deal with at this time. Why ? The gun lobby is powerful. Recently, we learned that several phantom weapons in circulation, whose serial numbers have been filed, came from a smuggling network of the United States Armed Forces. How do they travel here? This issue of the circulation of illegal firearms in local criminalized circles is fundamental. Getting one now seems easier to get than an appointment with your hairdresser. The problem must be identified at the source itself, not when a teenager is lying on the ground with a deadly bullet fired at random.
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