Number of serious crimes: “I’ve never seen it in my 40-year career”

At the BEI’s request, the SQ took over the investigation into three murders in 24 hours a few days earlier in Montreal and Laval.

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“This process is unusual, because normally, the SPVM investigates homicides in Montreal. But, since it is a single person, in a close spatiotemporal location, it is very practical. The investigation will be in Laval, Montreal. So it will be a lot of investigations,” explained retired SPVM inspector André Durocher.

According to him, serious crimes will become more frequent in the future.

“I started my police career in the early 80s when we started to see institutionalization. And we’ve seen growth. What I find sad about this situation is that at some point it becomes difficult for a patrolling policeman to spot a criminal or a person with mental health issues,” he said.

In addition, Quebec experienced the largest increase in the serious crime index in Canada, Statistics Canada revealed on Tuesday.

“What I’m seeing right now, like I’ve never seen in my 40-year career, is the number of violent incidents we’re having right now. Not just on an annual basis, it’s practically a few times a week. That is worrying,” believes the former inspector.

“I hope this will be a wake-up call. How many more victims will it take to attack the problem?” he wonders.

Watch his full interview in the video above.