Thefts and crimes against the person are still on the increase in the metropolis, according to figures released Monday by the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM).
These data relate to the first months of the year, from January to March, and show trends compared to the same periods in recent years which have been marked by curfews and the introduction of health measures.
This year, we note first in the metropolis an increase of the order of nearly 20% of assaults, that is to say the voluntary use of force against a person, without their consent.
Also during the first three months of the year, 3,832 offenses of this type were recorded, compared to only 3,214 in 2022 and 2,704 in 2021, two periods marked by curfews.
These are “worrying” figures in the eyes of retired SPVM supervisor Stéphane Wall.
There seems to be a trivialization of violence nowadays. When we look at the social issues and the sentences that are given: there are no serious consequences.
Stéphane Wall, retired SPVM supervisor
No less than 557 sexual assaults were reported to the SPVM, again during the same period, an increase of 14% compared to last year, when 487 crimes of the kind had been recorded, a phenomenon already associated with the end of the pandemic period.
Flights on the increase
Montreal also recorded a significant increase in the number of thefts of all types. No less than 734 robberies, that is to say which targeted individuals with a weapon or threats, took place there between January and March 2023, an increase of 31% compared to 2022.
Over the same period, 5,318 simple thefts, in homes, for example, took place on SPVM territory, an increase of 13%, and 1,463 break-ins were perpetrated, an increase of 24%.
Still in terms of thefts, these data once again confirm another major trend observed in the city, namely the explosion in the number of vehicle thefts compared to previous years.
No less than 2,727 motor vehicles were stolen during the first three months of 2023, a number 46% higher than during the same period last year and up 184% compared to 2020.
Everything leads us to believe that Montreal is heading for a record year in this area, as reported The Press last month, when many of these vehicles are stolen to be exported to countries where they are sold for two or three times more.
Police officers active in the Centre-Sud
More tickets were given on the territory covered by the SPVM’s neighborhood station 22, which includes the area around the Jacques-Cartier bridge, and where little Mariia Legenkovska was fatally mowed down on her way to school last December.
Thus, 1,744 moving offences, i.e. breaches of the Highway Safety Code – with the exception of speeding – were listed there from January to March 2023, the three months following this tragedy. This is an increase of 19% compared to the same period in 2022.
Last week, a citizen nevertheless filmed in one hour no less than 44 motorists making a prohibited left turn at the corner of rue de Rouen and rue Parthenais, in the borough of Ville-Marie, exactly where little Mariia Legenkovska lost her life on her way to school.
With the collaboration of Pierre-André Normandin, The Press