Online map highlights hot spots
The West Island only accounted for three homicides out of an islandwide total of 26 in the span of a year.
The area also appears to be a safe place to park your car, as long as you don’t leave anything valuable inside.
Those were among findings gleaned from newly released Montreal Police crime statistics for the year between November 2015 and November 2016. While Montreal police officially made crime statistics in the city public late last year for the city, it took a few more months for the demerged suburbs to be included in the crime map.
With the crime map for the city released in November, mayors of the demerged cities requested at the December meeting of the agglomeration council that the rest of the island also be included in the map.
Using the map, citizens can scroll down to the neighbourhoods of their choice and see which crimes occurred in those areas, and how many times each crime was reported.
“Not only was it important to us that we and our citizens have access to this info but it was even more important to us that the officers and commanders of the (Montreal police) stations who serve our 14 demerged cities would also have access to this data (as before they did not),” Baie-d’Urfé Mayor Maria Tutino wrote in a town newsletter. “Equally important to us was that there would be no additional cost to our cities for this information being made available (assurance asked for and received from the City of Montréal).”
Tutino said the data shows the West Island in general, and Baied’Urfé in particular are among the safest areas of the island. The homicides that occurred were in Lachine, Pierrefonds, and Île-Bizard.
The interactive map allows users to toggle and sort for specific groups of crimes. The categories of crimes are: homicides, breaking and enters, mischief, theft in a vehicle, car theft, and robberies.
While the West Island had lower than its share of homicides, theft inside vehicles and breaking and entering appear to be the most common crimes in the area. There were comparatively few car thefts, especially in contrast with the eastern central part of the island, where car thefts appear to be concentrated.
The West Island also doesn’t appear to be a hotbed for robberies, with most of them occurring in the centre of the island, and in densely populated parts of the city like Côte-des-Neiges—NotreDame-de- Grâce.
The statistics show that the areas of the West Island where crimes appear most prevalent are commercial areas, such as the Fairview Pointe-Claire shopping centre and some strip malls located near StJean Blvd. and Highway 40.
Important to us was that there would be no additional cost to our cities for this information being made available.