Almost two-thirds of Montrealers feel city is less safe than 5 years ago: survey

A new survey shows that nearly two of three people in Montreal feel security is worse that it was five years ago in the city.

A new survey shows that nearly two out of three people in Montreal feel security is worse that it was five years ago in the city.

The Leger-FPPM survey commissioned by the Montreal police brotherhood (FPPM) asked around 1,500 Montrealers how safe they feel in Montreal.

Though in general, 16 per cent of those surveyed said they felt very secure and 59 per cent felt they were secure enough, 65 per cent said they felt less secure than they did five years ago.

In addition, 67 per cent said there were areas of the city they felt unsafe. The most common areas mentioned were in Montreal North (33 per cent), downtown (21 per cent) and in the city's metro stations (19 per cent).

More than half of those asked (54 per cent) said there aren't enough police officers on the streets, and 62 per cent said officers weren't visible enough.

When it comes to the city's metro stations, again the majority of people felt very secure (14 per cent) or secure enough (60 per cent), but 59 per cent of those asked said the situation was worse than it was five years ago and almost two thirds felt there aren't enough officers in the metro (65 per cent) and 67 per cent feel their presence is not felt enough.

Half of the respondents said police do not have the resources to ensure security in the metro.