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Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal releases 2021 police activity report

June 9, 2022, Montréal, Que. – The Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) has released their annual police report. It’s goal is to provide an overview of police activities of the SPVM. All information presented dates from December 31, 2021.

“Year after year, the police officers and civilian staff of the SPVM perform work that is becoming increasingly complex and demanding. 2021 was no exception,” said Alain Vaillancourt, Head of Public Security, Ville fe Montréal. “In 2021, the SPVM valiantly continued its efforts to combat gun violence. It proved its agility by reorganizing its work structure to address this issue and to restore people’s sense of safety.”

In 2021, the 911 Centre staff responded to 1,445,082 calls requiring emergency services (police, fire, ambulance). Of these, just over 425,000 calls (30%) required SPVM intervention and were sent to police officers for handling. This statistic remains relatively stable from one year to the next.

Some highlights of the report include:

• Criminal Code offences dropped by 2.8 per cent. Specifically, property crimes and other Criminal Code offences fell by 9.4 per cent and 13.5 per cent, respectively, compared to the five-year average, while crimes against the person grew by 17.3 per cent.
• In 2021, 26 women were murdered in Québec, the vast majority in domestic situations. In Montréal, five women died as a result of domestic or intra-family violence, constituting 13.5 per cent of homicides.
• Property crime dropped in 2021, continuing the downward trend observed over past few years. This is primarily due to declines in break-ins, simple theft and misdemeanours. However, motor vehicle theft shows a significant increase in 2021 compared to the average of the last five years. This problem is of concern to the police forces of Québec and Canada, as a rising trend seems to have set in over the last few years.
• Crimes against the person involving the presence or use of a firearm rose by 15.3 per cent in 2021. Homicides involving the presence or use of a firearm as well as firearm discharges were up significantly. Attempted murders involving the presence or use of a firearm dropped.
• A total of 71,529 crimes against the person and against property were reported to the SPVM in 2021. Of these crimes, nearly 200 were hate-related. In addition, 104 incidents reported to the SPVM were hate-related.

Some concerted actions to counteract gun violence include: the creation of the Équipe de lutte au trafic d’armes à feu (ELTA), a team that ultimately aims to arrest the heads of networks and to tackle the arms trafficking market; the creation of multisectoral firearms teams (EMAF); the deployment of the Stratégie intégrée en violence armée in Montréal; and an additional $5.8 million of support.

The report also welcomed the first female Director of the SPVM, Sophie Roy.

To read the full report, click here.