Attempted murders, firearm-related crimes and property crimes were down in 2025, according to the Montreal police (SPVM) annual report released on Wednesday. In an interview, SPVM Chief Insp. David Shane called the decline “good news” for Montrealers. “2021 was a crisis period in Montreal, where we had a lot of gun violence, a lot of events, and so when you look at the peak of 2021 and you compare to the end of the year 2025, we were able to lower gun violence by 55 per cent, and that that is enormous,” he said. According to the force, attempted murders continued their downward trend, dropping by 25 per cent last year. There were 31 homicides in Montreal in 2025, the same number recorded in the previous two years. Police resolved 81 per cent of homicides last year, which Shane said was “impressive.” Arson also declined by 8.8 per cent. “Other fields that also are of interest for citizens is auto theft. There was a huge spike in auto theft, and we were able to lower it again by 24.3 per cent,” said the chief inspector. The report noted that collisions resulting in serious and minor injuries declined by 21.1 per cent and 2.6 per cent, respectively, while collisions resulting in property damage increased by 2.9 per cent. “Our police officers are all over the place. We’re near schools. We’re mounting operations. We raised the number of tickets by 12 per cent in 2025, and we will continue firmly to tackle road safety and continue that work because for us every person who dies is one too many.” “There’s no reason. This is all avoidable. I mean, it’s not normal that we have as many people who die on the roads as people who are murdered in a city,” emphasized Shane. However, it was not all good news, as the report highlighted a 5.7 per cent increase in reported sexual assaults. The SPVM attributed the jump to more reports from victims involving sexual assaults and sexual contacts, which Shane said underscored the trust that has been built with the police department. “We spoke with our partners working with us to support the victims, and that is our analysis,” he said. Break-ins were also up, according to the data in the report. The 5.8 per cent increase was linked to fewer people working from home, although the SPVM said the numbers remained below pre-pandemic levels. “The annual report for 2025 has a lot of positives, and it’s a good thing,” Shane said. “Montreal is a safe city, and the Montreal police are fully committed to keeping it that way.”
