Quebec hopes to reduce the number of episodes of gun violence in Montreal by encouraging, one by one, young offenders to get back on track.
The Minister of Public Security, François Bonnardel, was in the metropolis on Monday to announce an investment of 1.8 million dollars over three years in the PIVOT project, whose objective is to fight against armed violence. Of this sum, 1.35 million dollars come from government coffers. The city of Montreal will inject $513,000.
The government’s plan, inspired by the “Glasgow approach”, is to support young offenders to prevent them falling into crime.
“It is a fight that must continue to be able to remove (from crime) the greatest number of young people possible, who unfortunately find that carrying a weapon can be “fun.” But that is not right,” said Minister Bonnardel.
According to René-André Brisebois, lecturer and researcher at the Youth in Difficulty University Institute of the CIUSSS of the Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, the approach recommended by the government has proven effective in other parts of the world. the world.
« Dans les endroits où ça a été déployé, que ce soit aux États-Unis ou en Écosse, ce qu’on voit dans les recherches, ce sont des diminutions de 33% à 50% de la criminalité violente », at- he says .
The idea is to concentrate law enforcement efforts in the right place and achieve big results by taking “small steps,” explained François Bonnardel.
“If with each small step we manage to save young people and remove them from this small crime, which could become a serious crime, we will have won,” said the minister.
When asked how many young people will benefit from the support, René-André Brisebois responded that the project is “not aimed at a large number”, but at “very specific individuals”.
“Maybe thirty or forty young people. “If we can make a difference in the lives of one, two, three, four, it will make a big difference,” he added, specifying that letting a young man follow the path of crime can cost the company around $2 million in the long term. . and that’s why the game is worth it.
For the moment, the PIVOT project will be implemented in the districts of Rivière-des-Prairies-Pointe-aux-Trembles and Montréal-Nord, where most incidents involving firearms occur.
Minister Bonnardel also wanted to point out that this new measure is part of a broader plan to combat armed violence, for which the Quebec budget provides a fund of 50 million dollars.
“Between 2021 and 2022 there is still a drop of almost 40% in victims of armed violence. This year we also have a slight drop since the beginning of the year. So it is a fight that cannot be won, but we are moving forward,” said the minister.
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