Montreal police tout historic organized crime raids in 2025, decline in armed violence
Posted February 10, 2026 1:20 pm.
Last Updated February 10, 2026 1:30 pm.
Montreal police say building closer ties with the community remains a top priority for the force in 2026, including mental health, homelessness, and youth issues.
SPVM chief Fady Dagher and his team presented their major achievements for 2025 and priorities for the year ahead at a press conference on Tuesday.
One of the major focuses for the police force is how “the picture of homeless people completely changed.”
“Before we used to have people involved with drugs, mental health and deeply, deeply connected with drugs,” Dagher explained.
“Now, younger people, women, very normal people in apartments that lost their jobs and they went on the streets and those people are like you and me.
“How come the system is not connecting all together? I think there’s an improvement that we should be focusing on for the next years to work all together. And there are solutions, but there should be some consultation with everybody.”
The SPVM took the opportunity to tout historic raids as part of Project Alliance last year, which aims to solve several murders linked to organized crime in Montreal and elsewhere in Quebec.
The operation led to a dozen arrests, including that of the alleged leader of the Montreal mafia, Leonardo Rizzuto.
It’s one of the most significant organized crime investigations in Canada in recent decades. And Montreal police say more arrests are to come.
In terms of crime, 31 murders took place on the island of Montreal last year, 25 of which have been solved to date. Eight cold cases were also solved.
“In one year, we resolved eight cold cases; it’s very, very impressive,” Chief Dagher said. “And by the way, we met families in the community that are still waiting for the results of those murders. We met them a few weeks ago to tell them that we’re never going to give up. “Wherever you are, doesn’t matter the time, we’re always going to get you. One way or another, we’re going to get you.”
Police say armed violence has been on a steady decline since 2021, dropping by 52 per cent since then.
Authorities say they also acquired new video analysis software, as well as drones used for missing persons investigations and in targeted road safety operations.
RELATED: SPVM unveil drone operation to improve road safety
In addition, as part of the update to their police street check policy, an internal oversight committee was put in place at the beginning of this year to, among other things, evaluate practices and make concrete recommendations for improvements.
