The Plante administration recognizes that the summer period will not be easy for Montreal police officers who are already understaffed, but is counting on police chief Fady Dagher to deal with it.
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“Yes, we are going to have a hot summer, everyone recognizes that, but we’ve been working on it for months,” said Alain Vaillancourt, head of public security on the city’s executive committee, on Tuesday.
He was then questioned at the municipal council by Abdelhaq Sari, elected official opposition. The latter lamented the lack of preparation for the summer.
“If we have a summer plan with staff, with patrols present on the ground, that could reassure the population”, supported the elected representative of Ensemble Montreal.
Since 1er March, no less than 21 events of gun violence occurred on the island of Montreal, according to a count made by the QMI Agency. Of this number, there is one murder and eight attempted murders. Most of the victims of this armed violence are very young adults.
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Conflicts between cliques of Montreal street gangs would partly explain this outbreak of armed violence in recent weeks.
Mr. Vaillancourt, however, assured that the new chief of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) has been working on the subject for several months.
“We recognize that the violence and the safety of Montrealers is not only in July that we have to deal with it, or in June or in May. We do it every month of the year,” said the public security official.
“Everything is in place for the safety of people. It’s time to trust the SPVM and the work of Fady Dagher,” he added.
To deal with the lack of police personnel, the City of Montreal has already asked Quebec for a cohort dedicated to the metropolis. The SPVM has also broadened its pool of candidates for recruitment by authorizing candidates from the social sector.
– With Maxime Deland, QMI Agency