Calls to Montreal police returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2022, violent crime, car theft up
Guns, gangs played major part in homicides last year, says criminologist
A new report released today by the Montreal police service paints a mixed portrait of crime in the city in 2022.
While the number of calls to Montreal police increased by 13 per cent over the previous five-year average — figures similar to those observed before the pandemic — the report shows that motor vehicle thefts and violent crimes jumped last year.
According to the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), the number of homicides rose slightly to 41 in 2022, from 37 the previous year, and the total number of crime against people — which includes attempted murders and sexual assaults — climbed by more than 20 percent over the five-year-average.
On Friday, Montreal police Insp. David Shane said though the increase of crime targeting people is worrisome, most cases were assaults in which the victim sustained few or no injuries.
"The increase we're seeing in Montreal is part of an upward trend that has been observed in Canada and Quebec for several years," said Shane.
"It's difficult to pinpoint the causes of the increase. It's possible that the pandemic made people more irritable and tensions degenerated into more conflicts. It's also possible police are called in more often to settle disputes rather than [people] trying to resolve them themselves."
Shane said armed violence "contributed significantly" to violent crime in 2022, with firearms being a major factor. He also said the reopening of venues and resumption of nightlife may also have contributed to the rise.
At the same time, attempted murders decreased by nearly 15 per cent compared to the average of the last five years and by almost 30 per cent compared to 2021, the report says.
Criminologist Maria Mourani told CBC access to handguns has played a critical part in the uptick of violence. So have gangs, she says.
"The main reason is the conflicts inside criminal groups. It's the majority of homicides, in general. For the last three years, it's been the same problem," she said.
However, for Mourani, there is reason to be optimistic about the sexual assault numbers, which dipped slightly in 2022 compared to the previous year but have increased by over 12 per cent compared to the five-year average.
"People are less afraid to report them. We estimate that only six per cent of sex crimes are really reported," she said, adding that education campaigns and improved relations with police may have contributed to the increase in calls.
Vehicle thefts nearly double
Other offences like property crime and fraud in the report have returned to pre-pandemic levels, but the number of car thefts nearly doubled compared to 2017.
"The COVID-19-pandemic caused major disruptions to automotive manufacturer production lines, new vehicles have become rarer on the market, [and] theft for resale on foreign markets has therefore become a more attractive business for criminal markets," said Shane.
Listen, educate
For criminology expert Jean-Claude Bernheim, crime is above all a social problem.
"When the social context changes, criminality changes, and now we come back to the same situation before the pandemic and we find the same problems at the same place," he said.
According to Bernheim, getting a better understanding of crime in the city requires zeroing in on neighbourhoods most affected, places where people have been excluded from mainstream society and have limited access to social resources.
However, when it comes to youth, Fo Niemi, the executive director of the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations, said it's important to spend more time listening to young people and dig beyond traditional explanations of social exclusion and poverty alone.
"Is it a crisis in the way that people relate to one another in a post-pandemic era? There's also the good question of whether people can trust and work with the police enough in order to do things that can reduce crime," said Niemi.
"Possibly the best way to look at it and to address it is to get more young people involved: speaking out, looking for solutions and coming up with themselves the kind of programs and services that they believe that they need at the local neighbourhood level."
According to the SPVM report, the number of homicides by minors went from two in 2021 to three in 2022, with slight increases in the number of reported assaults and sexual assaults. At the same time, the number of attempted murders and robberies by minors fell.
Mourani says police need to think up new approaches for preventing crime among youth.
"We can't go meet them in the parks, the streets. We aren't there anymore. We have to think further about prevention," said Mourani. "I think it has to be done in schools, in community spaces, but also on the web."
Mourani said substantial resources must be invested in prevention for at-risk youth in schools but especially online where youth can be subjected to images and videos that glamourize gang activity and violence.
Going forward, the online world will only become a greater hub for criminal activity, something Montreal police are currently ill-equipped to deal with, she said.
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With files from Rowan Kennedy and Sara Eldabaa.