How did this AR-15 semi-automatic rifle end up in the hands of criminals in Quebec? To better tackle gun violence, the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) quietly set up a detection center in January for all firearms seized in the province. His mission ? Determine their exact origin and import channels. The police authorities welcome the creation of this centre, which will be able to directly feed investigations and help to “put a stopper” on the arms supply networks.
The new center has been operational since January 16 and the authorities are pinning a lot of hope on its expertise.
“It will give a better vision of what is happening in terms of firearms in Quebec, but also, of what is going to happen,” rejoices Martin Robert, the captain of the SQ responsible for the investigation service on gun violence.
Between mid-January and mid-March, more than 250 crime-related weapons were seized by police in Quebec. Of these, 89 were handguns, the weapon of choice for criminal groups, half of which came from the United States.
Screening in detail
Each time a police officer seizes a weapon, it is photographed from all angles and information on the make, model and serial numbers will be given to the detection centre. This will also be the case for items seized, such as ” Glock switch ”, which make it possible to make a handgun fully automatic.
Captain Robert points to the serial numbers engraved on a Glock pistol. When the criminals try to erase them, we can manage, he says, smiling.
For each weapon, its agents will search the databases to check if it has been stolen and if it is registered. The information will be validated with the gun manufacturers.
The team works in SQ offices, side by side with investigative units. “We see a real effervescence there,” noted Inspector Michel Patenaude, deputy director of the Criminal Investigations Department at the SQ and coordinator of the Centaure strategy.
There is also an agent from the American ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) in their offices, which gives the police force access to American databases.
The SQ believes that it is able to track all the weapons seized. The Ontario center processes approximately 2,500 crime-related weapons per year and the SQ expects a similar volume.
Weapons tracing is not new, however: before, it was carried out by NWEST (National Firearms Law Enforcement Support Team), headed by the RCMP.
Strengthen investigations
A major benefit of this new center is for investigations, says Patenaude. The results of the screening will be given to the police force that seized a weapon, which may advance their investigations in addition to helping them to make links with other crimes.
For example, the SQ may find that a robbery in Anjou was committed with a weapon purchased legally in the United States by a certain John Doe, just like this pistol used in an attack in Laval and this submachine gun in Longueuil.
The subject is of great interest for the SQ: “Here, we have a multiple buyer”, points out Captain Robert. He explains that an American can legally buy 20 rifles in a store and then give them to an accomplice, who will smuggle them into Canada.
With the centralization of tracking information, it is much easier to see that we have reached six files in which a weapon comes from the same buyer.
Then comes into play the concept of time to crime “, that is to say the time that elapses between the legal purchase of a weapon and its seizure. If two or three years have passed, the gun may have changed hands several times. But if it’s only been 30 days — we’ve already seen three days, Mr. Patenaude reports — the chances that the person who bought it in the United States is involved in an arms trafficking scheme to fire are larger.
Are there specific north-south import corridors?
We will then be able to have a much more precise portrait of what is happening in Quebec, replied the captain.
In Ontario, a lot of guns pass through Georgia and Ohio, but the reason is very simple, explains the inspector: the highways pass through states that have very permissive gun laws. In Quebec, we will see over time whether the weapons arrive from Maine or Vermont.
“This will not only allow us to identify ‘multiple buyers’, but also structures and passages that should be monitored more, and determine the best investigative means to tackle them. »
The SQ expects that after strikes in an area, the criminals will adapt and change their methods. “But with intelligence, we will have a better idea of where the crime is going, and we can be more proactive,” says Captain Robert.