Faced with the increase in events involving a firearm, the Montreal police want to “invest more” in the world of social networks, where some “exhibit weapons just for fun”. She also sends a message to criminal groups: their actions online will have legal consequences.
Posted at 4:52 p.m.
“The hottest ground right now seems to be social media. We will have to start investing more in it, to be present with young people, ”explained Anne Chamandy, who directs communications for the SPVM, during a press scrum at City Hall on Wednesday.
His remarks came after a meeting of the Commission on Public Security, where the police force presented its annual report, according to which half of the homicides and attempted murders committed in Montreal in 2021 involved the presence or use of a firearm. No less than 25,129 crimes against persons were perpetrated in Montreal last year, or 17.3% more than the average for the previous five years, a record for 10 years.
For meme Chamandy, “the future [de la criminalité] is really in virtual space”. “Our challenge will be to think about all that while maintaining the traditional space of crime, which has not necessarily disappeared,” she said.
The spokesperson at the same time sent a message to young people who would use social networks to promote criminal activities. “They must not think that because they are behind their screen and anonymous, they are immune from justice. We arrest young people who might make threats, or who think it’s cool to deploy or show off a weapon just for fun, ”she said.
Be careful, be alert to what you are doing. And talk to adults before you think what you’re doing is a good idea to influence or try to get likes.
Anne Chamandy, SPVM communications director
Generally speaking, crime in the public space is more “disorganized” than before, according to the executive. It also invites the population in general to “take its share of responsibility in its own security”. “Talk to the police, even if it’s the most trivial detail. Participate with us in the return of security, and the feeling of security in Montreal. »
Despite the current context, the Montreal police say they are “still very much in control” of the situation, especially when compared to “other major Canadian cities” where crime is also on the rise. “That said, there is no discharge that is not taken seriously. There is nothing banal and normal, and it will never become so in Montreal,” insisted Anne Chamandy.
Plante wants to “review the methods”
On Wednesday morning, Mayor Valérie Plante argued that the fight against organized crime is currently calling for a review of methods of repression. “These are really groups that have changed, organized crime has changed, and that’s why we have to review our methods, that we have to go deeper,” said Ms.me Plante on Wednesday, calling for reflection on the “Montreal model”. “We have to find solutions to target this transformation of groups, which, among other things, will look for young people. »
She argues that we must avoid “falling into the trap of finding a one-size-fits-all solution”. “Rather, we need to identify a set of tools and elements,” she says, citing access to green spaces, quality jobs, affordable housing and public transit as pillars of community support.
“Every gain we make in housing a family, in finding social housing and in having affordable housing to keep our families, for me, that contributes to our definition of urban safety,” insisted Ms.me Plante, thanking the police for their “underestimated, not well-known” work.
The City finally demands that Ottawa go further than a freeze on handguns, by outright banning their circulation, which would allow it with the SPVM to “do work that is part of time”, argued the mayor. . “Is that enough? The answer is no. There is still work to be done at the federal level in the messages and in the laws to help us in our work, and especially to scare the criminals, so that they feel that there is really a consequence for carrying weapons “, added M.me Chamandy.