Montreal increasing police, intervention worker presence downtown this summer

Montreal announced it will increase the presence of patrol officers, intervention workers and its “cohabitation team” in the downtown area this summer.

The City of Montreal announced it will increase the presence of patrol officers, EMMIS intervention workers and its “cohabitation team” in the downtown area this summer.

In a news release, the city said it wants the population to feel safer and is deploying “more resources than last year,” including private security, to “address the needs and concerns of all parties involved.”

This includes “the local population, tourists, business owners and employees in the city centre.”

About 30 more Montreal police (SPVM) officers are slated to patrol the Ville-Marie, Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve and Sud-Ouest boroughs, including members of the ECLIPSE violent crime division.

The city stated that it has also invested $1 million in new “social cohabitation teams” for busy areas of the Ville-Marie borough, which will comprise 13 social workers working 450 hours per week.

They will “add a more in-depth level of intervention to the work being done by EMMIS workers,” the city said.

Officials said the workers come from organizations like l’Anonyme, l’Itinéraire and the Société de developpement social de Ville-Marie.

The city increases its police presence downtown every year, Mayor Valérie Plante explained.

“We know that the summer months are a challenge,” she said. “This summer, we are more committed than ever to mobilizing all our skills and resources to go even further … Every effort is being made to ensure that everyone can fully enjoy the summer in a vibrant, clean and safe city centre.”

However, some community organizations question why they weren’t included in the city’s strategy.

‘Contest of rights’

David Chapman, executive director of Resilience Montreal, said he understands that increasing police may help some feel safer and reduce unnecessary 911 calls.

However, he added the $1 million spent on brigades trained by the SPVM would be better put to organizations that have a rapport with the unhoused in the area.

He also said there is a big difference between the public’s perceived sense of safety and actual risk.

“For example, we may read in the media about a stabbing at the Atwater Metro, and often these reports don’t include very important details, like the stabbing was between two drug sellers who are competing for, sort of, the crack trade in the area … The general public just reads ‘Stabbing at Atwater Metro,’ and they conclude, ‘Well, I better not go anywhere near Atwater Metro because clearly it’s unsafe for me to be there,’” Chapman said. “But for everyone else … you are not at risk.”

He emphasized that the workers at Resilience are trained in de-escalating conflict and are familiar with the people in the area.

He added that vulnerable people are increasingly criminalized.

Chapman said he once saw someone call the police out of concern for a man sleeping on the sidewalk near Resilience Montreal, who ended up in the backseat of a cruiser.

“Housed citizens will say, ‘I have a right to health and life, a certain quality of life, and this right is at risk.’ And the homeless will say … ‘I too, have a right to this sidewalk, and I have a right to be here.’ So then, what often happens is it just sort of degenerates into a contest of rights, which is not productive,” he said. “The best way for this security and for a sense of public safety is actually if community organizations themselves are funded to hire people who can de-escalate.”

‘Not only new police officers’

Robert Beaudry, responsible for homelessness with Montreal’s executive committee, said the homeless population has increased everywhere in Quebec, and the city wants to have a balanced response.

He stressed that the increased patrol and private security officers should have “eyes and ears for criminality, not homelessness.”

“It’s not only having new police officers or private security, it’s as well having more social workers,” he told CTV News. “We, as well, offer opportunity of reinsertion for people who are in vulnerable situations.”

He said the new brigade is made up of people who are already involved in the borough and know the needs of those in the streets.

The Ville-Marie borough is spending some $30 million on cleanliness year-round, a $4 million increase from last year, according to the city.

With files from CTV News’ Maria Sarrouh.