(Calgary Herald) – Canada’s new top Mountie, Bob Paulson, sounds like the right person to lead the troubled force. Judging from the commissioner’s initial public statements on how to fix the increasingly dysfunctional, 31,000-employee organization, at least Paulson intends to restore the honour that was once unquestioned by Canadians.
Paulson has vowed to hasten the disciplinary process for RCMP members accused of misconduct so that less serious matters are dealt with informally, and thus more quickly, clearing the backlog of cases that now drags through the formal arbitration process sometimes for years.
On the more serious allegations of misconduct, of which there have been far too many, Paulson is taking an almost zero-tolerance approach. Allegations of significant lying, cheating, stealing, deliberate excessive force or serious criminal conduct will result in the accused officers immediately losing their badges and having their weapons seized. They will be suspended immediately without pay while the incident is investigated.
“There’s no presumption of innocence in disciplinary, administrative proceedings. There is none,” said Paulson, who worked his way up the ranks since joining the RCMP in 1986 the old-fashioned way — through talent and hard work.
While his strong talk matches the public’s revulsion with some of the serious criminality and thuggishness of a minority of RCMP officers, we don’t fully share Paulson’s position. While police officers should not fancy themselves above the law, they are entitled to the same due process as everyone else, including the presumption of innocence. We are encouraged, at least, that Paulson shares the collective disgust at behaviour that has tainted the once-proud red serge of our Mounties.
Mounties can, and have, remained suspended for years with pay, even receiving their annual raises as they take their case through the various stages of internal discipline and court proceedings.
According to an Ottawa Citizen report last year, 10 constables, four corporals, one sergeant and one staff sergeant were on paid suspension in B.C. alone and were costing the public $1.3 million a year in salaries. One of those officers was Trent Richards, who admitted to having on-duty sex at least 15 times, but appealed his order to resign, during which time he got full pay. Four years later — which was last month — his appeal failed and he was finally off the payroll.
The process is desperately broken and will require organizational and systemic change throughout, before a cultural shift has any hope of trickling down. Paulson seems to get it. He wants to broaden the ridiculously limited range of punishments available for disciplining officers guilty of misconduct, which currently escalates from 10 days of docked pay to termination, with nothing in between. He also wants to cut the size of management and diversify the power structure by getting more women in senior positions.
Paulson’s statements are encouraging. Time will tell if he can deliver much-needed results.
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