Despite an explosion in the number of shootings in its streets, Montreal remains a safe city, maintains the person in charge of public security, Alain Vaillancourt.
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“If we compare with other cities in North America, Montreal remains safe,” he argued, acknowledging however that the current situation is “still worrying.[e]”.
Mr. Vaillancourt reacted to the annual report of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM). For the year 2021, 144 firearm discharges have been recorded on the island, or one every two and a half days. A meteoric rise when there were only 71 such events in 2020. Homicides also increased by 40%.
“For us, this report is not really a surprise. We know that there is an increase in armed violence. Especially since we’ve been working on the file for a year. Efforts are in place,” said Mr. Vaillancourt.
In this regard, he indicates that the City has increased the funding for community organizations to $20 million, in addition to having increased the police budget and set up the Firearms Fighting Team ( ELTA). He also ensures that the SPVM has the resources it needs to do its job.
“Sometimes it’s long, we don’t see the work on the ground, but it is done on a daily basis,” added Mr. Vaillancourt.
The SPVM will officially present its report on Wednesday to the City’s Public Security Commission.
QMI Agency Archives Photo
Alain Vaillancourt
another reading
“Did we read the same report,” asked Abdelhaq Sari, spokesperson for public security for the official opposition. “We have clearly seen that all the indicators are red,” he was alarmed.
Far from feeling safe, he rather believes that the situation is worrying. Especially since in his eyes, the municipal administration “is not even aware of the problem”.
He reiterates his party’s request, which would like the City to hire more police officers in order to reach the staffing ceiling currently allowed by law.
“When I say police, it can be neighborhood policing, community policing. That’s the staff we need. They are not present”, maintained Mr. Sari.
Not surprising
Professor at Concordia University specializing in public security Ted Rutland, is not surprised by the results of the SPVM’s annual report, although he admits that “any form of violence is worrying”.
“The strongest trends we see in the report are trends we were already seeing in the news and across North America. It gives us numbers, but there is nothing surprising,” he said.
According to him, however, more police personnel would not be the solution to violence, whereas they intervene mainly after an act is committed, rather than upstream. He also points out that Montreal already has the highest proportion of police officers per inhabitant in Canada.
“We have put too much attention on the police as the solution to acts of violence, and not enough attention on other forms of action and intervention”, he summarized.
Instead, he believes that Montreal should learn from approaches that have worked in other cities in North America, for example by facilitating access to summer jobs for marginalized young people and increasing funding for workers. of street.
“The city says they’ve doubled it, but it’s a very small budget, and the money isn’t well distributed either. Most of the funds go towards community programs which are good, but which are not designed to reduce violence,” he pointed out.
Although she shares the observation that the data is not surprising, Maria Mourani, criminologist and columnist for the Journal de Montréal, believes that the City should fill its police force.
“There are not a lot of police officers from diversity or women. It can be an opportunity to fill this deficit to achieve a little more representativeness, ”she said.
However, she points out that it is also necessary to put funding in prevention, as well as in information.
In this regard, she indicates that work on the Web is important, while some no longer hesitate to appear there with weapons. “What the police need to fine-tune is to remove weapons before the commission of the crime,” she explained.