Fall may be here, but break-ins in Montreal haven’t exactly gone into hibernation.
The latest crime report from the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) covers all of September, and it offers a pretty clear look at which parts of the island are seeing the most activity.
In total, 575 break-ins were recorded last month. That’s fewer than in July (623) or August (597), and it brings the running total for 2026 to 4,926 as of September 30.
Spread across the 30 days, that works out to about 19 break-ins a day, or roughly one every 75 minutes. The daily pace was almost identical to August’s once the extra day on the calendar is factored in, and a notch below July’s 20.1.
The figures come from the SPVM’s monthly crime report, which is published on the City of Montreal’s open data portal.
Which parts of Montreal had the most break-ins
The SPVM divides the island into four regions, and the north end came out on top in September with 187 break-ins, or about one in every three. It’s the fourth month in a row the region has led the list, after the north and west traded the top spot through the first half of the year. The north covers areas like Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Saint-Michel, Villeray, Parc-Extension, Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie and the Plateau-Mont-Royal.
The east end was the quietest part of the island, with 80 break-ins, down from 99 in August. It has logged the fewest of the four regions in every month of 2026. The region includes Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Mercier, Montréal-Nord, Saint-Léonard, Anjou, Rivière-des-Prairies, Pointe-aux-Trembles and Montréal-Est.
In the west, 158 break-ins were reported, up from 147 in August. That region’s busiest month of the year was March, with 178, while the north and south both peaked in July. The west stretches from Côte-des-Neiges, Outremont and the Town of Mount Royal through Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Côte-Saint-Luc, Hampstead and Saint-Laurent, out to Lachine, LaSalle and the West Island suburbs.
The south end saw 150, down from 171 in August and 185 in July, its high for the year. That region consists of downtown, the rest of Ville-Marie, Westmount, the Sud-Ouest, Verdun and Île-des-Soeurs.
Keep in mind these are raw counts, and the regions vary in size, so they show where incidents are concentrated rather than how likely any one household is to be targeted.
How 2026 is shaping up
Through nine months, Montreal has logged 4,926 break-ins, which puts the city on pace for roughly 6,570 by the end of the year. That would land just under 2025’s total of 6,728, though October was the busiest month of last year, with 642 break-ins.
SPVM
Here’s how each month of 2026 compares with the same month last year:
- January: 548 (498 in 2025)
- February: 442 (430)
- March: 549 (539)
- April: 471 (596)
- May: 568 (602)
- June: 553 (612)
- July: 623 (606)
- August: 597 (595)
- September: 575 (590)
Overall, 2026 sits about 2.8% below last year through September.
To check activity near you, the SPVM’s monthly crime report can be filtered by region, police station (PDQ) and month on the City of Montreal’s open data portal.
How to protect your home from break-ins
Break-ins tend to climb in early winter, when the nights get darker earlier and more people travel for the holidays. With clocks falling back on November 1, it’s a good time to run through a few basics.
Here’s what the SPVM and the RCMP recommend:
- Keep entrances well lit, and put lights on timers so the house looks lived-in.
- Lock doors even when you’re home, and add a crossbar inside patio doors.
- Put ladders and tools away so they can’t be used to get in.
- Don’t leave empty boxes from new electronics outside, since they advertise what’s inside.
- Keep trip plans off social media, and have someone pick up your mail and shovel your walkway while you’re away.
If you see something suspicious, call 911. Anyone with information about break-ins can also send a confidential tip to Info-Crime Montréal at 514 393-1133.