Two months after the start of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the number of hate crimes and incidents has dropped considerably in the metropolis, the result of visibility operations by the Montreal City Police Service, according to its chief.
No less than 116 hate crimes and incidents have been recorded in Montreal since the bloody Hamas attack on October 7, revealed Fady Dagher during an online question-and-answer session for the Jewish organization B’nai Brith.
“Now we have maybe four or five events every week whereas there were many more before we increased our visibility,” he explained during his opening message.
These visibility operations, which consist of additional patrols, among others, however have their cost. Two million dollars and 7,600 police officers have been invested in this mission, which Fady Dagher intends to continue as long as necessary.
“Keep going to your synagogues, keep sending your children to school, I think it’s important not to be paralyzed by fear and not let fear control us,” he said. he insisted, addressing members of the Jewish community participating in the online event.
But no arrests have yet been made in connection with the episodes of shootings at Jewish schools or in the case of Molotov cocktails targeting certain synagogues, cases which occurred a few days apart in November and which had marked the spirits.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
A synagogue in Dollard-des-Ormeaux was targeted by a Molotov cocktail on November 7.
In response to a question from a participant who claimed to have been ignored by an officer at a neighborhood station while trying to report a hate incident, Fady Dagher apologized on behalf of the Police Department of the City of Montreal (SPVM), affirming that he wanted this type of unfortunate episode to occur “less and less”.
Moreover, special training will be offered starting next week to all police officers working at reception at neighborhood stations on hate incidents and crimes and they will be asked to fill out reports if they are informed of such events.
As for the investigation into the speech given by controversial imam Adil Charkaoui during a November demonstration in Montreal, Fady Dagher believes that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which is now responsible for the case, is “studying all options.”