Mayor Valérie Plante and Montreal police chief Sylvain Caron made an look in Rivière-des-Prairies (RDP) Thursday morning, the place they reassured the general public and shared particulars of a brand new anti-gun squad set to launch later this month.
The announcement got here after a latest improve in gun violence within the north east a part of the town, which most lately took the lifetime of a 15-year-old woman in a drive-by taking pictures earlier this week.
“Individuals proper now, they’re afraid simply to stroll. They’re saying, ‘If I am going to this space, I may very well be shot’” stated McKayla Cherenfant, a 17-year-old pupil at École secondaire Jean-Grou in RDP.
Cherenfant stated she lives close to the place the drive-by taking pictures befell.
“We all know that the violence appears to have elevated,” stated Fallon Memettre, who works with teenagers each day at Motion RDP, a neighborhood group that helps youth and households.
“Among the youngsters have been saying, ‘I’m afraid, I work at Tim Hortons, and when my shift ends, I’m afraid to go dwelling,’ due to the shootings, you already know, you don’t know the place it’s going to finish up,” she advised International Information
It’s in opposition to that backdrop that Plante and Caron set foot within the north east.
“Occasions like we like we’ve witnessed the previous week are unacceptable,” stated Insp. David Shane with the Montreal police, who was the drive’s English-speaking spokesperson on the press convention on Thursday.
“It’s touched all people, each one among us and the Montreal police drive. As you already know, earlier than being law enforcement officials, most of us are mother and father.“
Caron stated he had personally spoken with the household of the woman killed within the drive-by.
Police stated a brand new 22-person anti-gun squad introduced in December can be energetic as of Feb. 22. It is going to embody investigators from numerous specialties, and all will come collectively to battle unlawful weapons in Montreal.
“We’re not telling you we’re going to have 100 per cent on our report card, however we are going to put all of the efforts wanted to fight this phenomenon,” stated Shane.
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On the neighborhood stage, nevertheless, there’s not a lot perception that throwing increasingly more police on the violence drawback will remedy the systemic points that contribute to it.
“As a teenager, I actually shouldn’t have a lot confidence within the police,” stated a teen at Motion RDP who didn’t need to be named. She stated she had dangerous experiences with police.
“After we are investing solely in repression, you received’t do something to work the issues from the supply of the issue,” stated Pierreson Vaval, Motion RDP’s government director.
Plante has pledged to supply more cash to neighborhood organizations like Motion RDP, the place they attempt to hold youth out of crime within the first place.
Learn extra:
Montreal mayor calls on Ottawa, Quebec to help fight gun violence after teen girl’s death
Vaval stated if governments invested in neighborhood organizations like they spend money on police, he believes it could have an enduring impact on the violence.
“If we don’t try this, 5 years from right here, we’re going to have one other disaster. The issue is that we’re letting youngsters getting away slowly from us,” he stated.
This week, Plante additionally requested the federal authorities to limit handguns prefer it did with assault weapons. Joel Lightbound, the parliamentary secretary to the Public Security Minister, advised International Information new laws is on the way in which that can give municipalities extra energy to limit handguns inside their borders.
“Our plan may even embody further sources and introduce stronger penalties for regulation enforcement and border providers officers to assist cease the stream of weapons over our borders and goal the unlawful trafficking of firearms via legal diversion. We may even introduce stricter safe storage legal guidelines to assist stop the theft of firearms,” Lightbound stated.
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