{"id":639356,"date":"2026-04-30T21:00:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T21:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/639356\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T21:00:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T21:00:13","slug":"quebec-police-join-forces-to-combat-organized-crime-business-extortion-montreal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/639356\/","title":{"rendered":"Quebec police join forces to combat organized crime, business extortion – Montreal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Four police forces in Quebec have joined together to launch a coordinated strategy aimed at combating violence and extortion<\/a> targeting businesses.<\/p>\n

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The S\u00fbret\u00e9 du Qu\u00e9bec (SQ), Montreal police (SPVM), Laval police and Longueuil police announced Thursday the creation of Project UNIS. The joint initiative is designed to encourage reporting of violent acts against businesses, anonymous or not, and improve information sharing among police services.<\/p>\n

It also aims to provide faster, coordinated support to business owners through harmonized prevention tools, develop a provincewide intelligence on the issue, and strengthen the sharing of information among forces.<\/p>\n

Police say the project will optimize responses to crimes targeting merchants, ensure a visible and reassuring presence, and reduce the ability of criminals and organized groups to operate through greater provincial collaboration.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMore Montreal merchants facing extortion\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cNo business should operate under threat. It is precisely to break this cycle that our organizations are speaking with one voice today and deploying (the) project,\u201d said Benoit Dub\u00e9, assistant director general of the provincial police force (SQ).<\/p>\n

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\u201cBehind every targeted establishment, there are entrepreneurs, families and employees. Their safety remains at the heart of our commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n

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C\u00e9dric Couture, assistant director with the Montreal police, said the force has been fully engaged in combating extortion for more than a year and will intensify its efforts as the summer season approaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe project marks a new step. Together, we remind business owners that they are not alone and that we are here,\u201d Couture said.<\/p>\n

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In Laval, the initiative will translate into an increased presence among businesses, according to Am\u00e9lie Bouchard, chief inspector with the criminal investigations division.<\/p>\n

\u201cViolence and intimidation by criminal groups are unacceptable. Faced with extortion, no organization can act alone,\u201d she said, adding police services are united, mobilized and determined to act through both prevention and investigations.<\/p>\n

Sylvain Stringer, assistant director of criminal investigations and intelligence for Longueuil police, said the project sends a clear message that such crimes will be investigated and offenders identified and brought to justice.<\/p>\n

Over the coming weeks and months, the project will be visible through visits to businesses conducted by the four police organizations.<\/p>\n

Officers will also distribute tools developed as part of the initiative.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGunfire hits five Montreal-area cafes after Laval Police extortion crackdown\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four police forces in Quebec have joined together to launch a coordinated strategy aimed at combating violence and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":639357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[49,48,2169,68979,2338],"class_list":["post-639356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-crime","tag-extortion","tag-montreal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=639356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}