The majority of young people in Montreal-North do not or trust the police, according to a new report commissioned by the borough.
The document, which paints a portrait of violence in the neighborhood, suggests that a quarter of young people feel less safe in 2021 than in 2020. Crime has followed an upward trend in Montréal-Nord in previous years. , while it decreased in the rest of the island.
There is a “significant presence of the feeling of insecurity in the community” and a “lack of confidence in authority figures”, diagnose professors Victor Armony and Mariam Hassaoui, under the aegis of the International Center for the Prevention of crime (CIPC). The report is dated this month and is 86 pages long. Press obtained it in response to an access to information request. According to a survey carried out among 250 young people in the borough and included in the analysis, 53% of young people in the borough do not trust (or do not trust) the police. The proportion rises to 54% among young men (racialized or not) and to 55% among young racialized (men or not).
Young people have a “mixed perception of the protection offered by the police” and “the school is not always perceived as a safe place”, according to the document.
In addition, “56% of the responses given by the girls indicate that they do not feel sufficiently safe (“ little ”or“ not at all ”) when they are alone in a public space in Montreal-North”, continues analysis.
The report also states: “Three out of four girls cannot find resources for their safety: 76% of the answers given by the girls indicate that they do not find enough (“ few ”or“ not at all ”) resources ( local organizations, counselors, activities) that make them feel safe. ”
Breaking
“The question we asked ourselves was how to prevent and reduce violence among young people aged 12 to 25 in Montreal-North,” said Mariam Hassaoui, professor at TELUQ, in a telephone interview. “We consulted more than 300 people in Montreal-North. ”
She evokes findings “quite impressive and quite shocking”.
For Victor Armony, co-author of the study and professor of sociology at UQAM, the data on the deterioration in the sense of security of young people in Montreal-North are “serious”.
It is “a worrying fact”, he continued. “There is a deterioration that is consistent with the rest of our results. ”
Mme Hassaoui adds that the split between young people and authorities does not only affect the police, but also all public services.
What the women told us was that even in the CLSCs, there was a judgment that was there. A faintness. […] There is a lack of trust on the part of the institutions: the school, the CLSCs, the social services.
Mariam Hassaoui, professor of sociology at TELUQ
“An important element that emerged, especially among the young men we consulted, is this idea of being continually taken for criminals, suspects, people who do not want to do anything and who are dangerous”, a- she added.
“A fairly comprehensive consultation”
Despite the large number of reports, studies and descriptions of the security situation in Montreal-North already published, Mr. Armony argued that the study he co-signed could support the understanding of the situation prevailing in the borough.
“I think we carried out a fairly comprehensive consultation on community and social life in Montreal-North,” he said. He praised in particular the intersectional approach adopted, which takes into account gender and ethnicity in the analysis.
The two experts – and their colleague Michelle Côté from the CIPC – recommend better supervision of street work in Montreal-North, better awareness of social services for families with an immigrant background and better training of police officers on issues of discrimination. .
Public aid organizations find themselves competing with each other for grants, which can lead to patronage, Armony said. Lack of financial predictability and high staff turnover in these organizations would also hamper their work. The report recommends correcting the situation.
With William Leclerc, Press