The Gatineau police director developed his report for the year 2021 on Tuesday, in a presentation to the entire City committee. Crimes of a sexual nature have increased.
Although calls with a criminal nature took up a large portion of the resources of the Service de police de Gatineau (SPVG) in 2021, they did not represent the majority of files handled by officers. In fact, they represent only 14% of calls that require police intervention, Luc Beaudoin explains.
Officers are often busy responding to non-criminal calls such as applying municipal laws, traffic accidents, evacuations, disappearances, suspicious people or vehicles, domestic disturbances, conducting demonstrations, etc.
As crime increases in 2021, the total number of criminal offenses reported to SPVG has been declining over the past five years and has not yet reached the level of years before the pandemic, the director reports.
Crimes against people increased by 9% compared to 2020, which is equivalent to 255 more criminal offenses, for a total of 3181.
The crimes that saw the largest increase were assault with a weapon (13%), common assault (20%), criminal harassment, threats, and sexual assault (64%).
In terms of sexual assault, Luc Beaudoin recalled that 54% of the victims were minors and that 41% of the attackers were people known to the victims, of which 27% were family members and 22 % is spouse or ex -spouse.
” There are many awareness campaigns. We are acting, but there is still work to be done in this direction. “
Crimes related to sexual exploitation rose 125%, which did not fail to respond to the deputy mayor who removed a Hay naku at the announcement of this sharp increase.
It’s always scary when you see an increase, but we must not forget that we encourage victims to denounce, report the situation to us.make a point of referring to Luc Beaudoin. Added to that are the expert teams we have put in place on issues of sexual exploitation and child pornography. The more teams you put in, the more people you put in, the more files you have to investigate, the more it influences the statistical files.
The year 2021 is once again influenced by the pandemic
Mr. Beaudoin also informed that the health crisis – as in 2020 – has a major impact on the police service and its interventions, in addition to having an impact on the type of crimes.
This can be seen in the number of crimes against property committed in the Gatineau territory, which remained stable, from 4,864 in 2020 to 4,878 in 2021.
Breaks and enters dropped 18%. Thefts from vehicles also dropped by 17%.
Habits, telecommuting, the pandemic situation means that people are more present in their residencesaid Luc Beaudoin. We should not hide it, these are crimes that are less profitable than before.
On the other hand, fraud and identity fraud increased by 7% and 33% respectively.
Is it still an effect of the pandemic? Earlier in the year, we saw several fraud-related files linked to ECP. When people started filing their tax returns, they realized that some identification was being used. So that’s what brought him up to that levelanswer of the director of SPVG.
An important presentation, the mayor said
Luc Beaudoin also noted an increase in crimes involving child pornography. He noticed a 23% increase in 2021, for a total of 76 files.
Offenses are primarily related to the distribution and possession of child pornography. The events reported in 2021 are mostly from attacks on the Snapchat, Dropbox and Kik platforms, etc.he pointed out.
This is the first time the Chief of Police has presented a report to the newly elected council. Mayor France Bélisle seems to have appreciated the format.
I think it’s important that we make this information public, because it’s information [nous, les élus] hear every dayshe pointed out.
It allows people to see what our police service does and how it is assigned.he continued. This greatly varied our service interventions and I found out Large that the citizens know.
With information from Charles Lalande
Source: Radio-Canada
