With 800 unsolved homicides, Montreal’s police force is bolstering its cold case unit [Video]

The new head of the Montreal police force’s major crimes unit is taking aim at cold cases. 

Mélanie Dupont, who was appointed as the unit’s commander in November, said in an interview on Tuesday that the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal will assign 16 full-time detectives to tackle unsolved homicides. 

Previously, the force had six detectives assigned to cold cases, but they lacked the time to work on them because they were pulled away to help whenever there was a new murder in the city, she said. 

“Mixed with the homicide unit, it’s not going fast enough,” Dupont said. “It’s better if it’s separate.”

There are more than 800 unsolved homicides in the Montreal police files. Dupont said she didn’t expect the improved cold case unit to solve them all, but she hoped it would be able to begin with cases where DNA had been collected.

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