Opinion (Langley Times) – Now that the Braidwood Inquiry is done, the four RCMP officers and their superiors who concocted a litany of lies can go back to their routine.
Since no charges are to be laid against them for manslaughter (or anything related to unlawful death), they can hold their heads up high in the community and continue to wreak havoc on the citizens of B.C. It has been very apparent for quite some time that some people who break the law, especially those who are paid to uphold those very same laws, are above it and can do whatever they please without fear of facing any charges.
The RCMP used to be a very honourable police force, but in recent months their actions have brought shame and disgrace. It appears they are now able to get away with murder, and then with straight faces lie about it, with the help of their superior officers.
It is no wonder that the criminals love to come to the Lower Mainland. They know that even if they are caught, they have no fear that they will ever spend any time in jail for their crimes. After all, the RCMP don’t pay for their crimes, so why should the drug dealers and other killers among us do so?
It is time to clean up the law enforcement in this province and get a regional/provincial police force that will act with the best interests of the public in mind, rather than the self-serving bunch we have now.
Al Crawford,
Langley
Editor’s note — While the frustration of many members of the public over the Robert Dziekanski Taser death is understandable, it’s important to note that the Braidwood Inquiry has not yet released its report. It’s also important to note that police have no say over sentencing. That is up to the court system.
DT is correct. No matter where you stand on the issue of contract policing, its a “done deal.” Even before the credit crisis in the USA touched off our current recession, B.C. was already planning to bring the RCMP back. So too were the other contract policing provinces. The contracts will be renewed in 2012.
I would like to see a contingency plan in place if the province had to cancel its RCMP contract. As DT pointed out, some ‘brilliant’ accounting by the Chretien government a few years back led to the closure of the Training Depot in Regina which impacted on the RCMP’s abilities to meet its commitments (remember, they were already short-staffed). Then AG Ujjal Dosanhj in B.C. made a half-hearted threat to cancel the RCMP contract and revise the BCPP if the Feds did not restore funding ASAP. Chretien’s government did not restore funding ASAP but Dosanhj didn’t follow through with his threat. with an actual contingency plan in place and willingness to use it, the Feds may have restored funding and reopened the Training Depot a lot sooner than they did.
Which leads one to the question, when does a province have to walk away from this deal?
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If the RCMP were to remove themselves from policing BC provincially (not discussing municipal contracts) that would allow the RCMP to fill a lot of the underfilled detachments Nationally. As for the separation of the RCMP from municipal contracts in BC that would allow them to shore up staffing in detachments and bring the service in other communities to proper staffing levels. So there wouldn’t be thousands of excess officers. That is assuming that none badge over to the new service. Assuming 4000 of the current deployments in BC badge over the remaining levels can effectively do federal policing in BC so you wont have a lot of excess officers in BC anyways. If you want an effective BC force to replace the RCMP look upwards of 10000 officers since you would be dealing with staffing levels similar to vancouver etc meaning many more officers and a lot more money. Look at doubling the police budget that is currently being spent and you can have an effective BC force.
Although, if the RCMP leaves BC you then have to replace them and if you get 4000 to badge over what are you going to do to fill the extra spots required. Are you going to have all new recruits with no operational knowledge. If you think things are bad now try putting 4000 brand new cops on the road and see what happens.
People need to realize how understaffed and underfunded the RCMP is and how professional they truly are. Think about the fact that the RCMP had 1600 public complaints against them last year. In BC alone they had over a million calls to service. That is not including the other calls to service they had in every other location in the country.
If you think Ontario is effective look at the trouble the OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) is having right now with the number of officers being charged for different crimes including one who is charged with several weapons offences and allegedly trying to extort $15 million from Bombardier.
What happened in the airport is horrible but it is not murder and it is definitely not a cover-up. As for the video, that showed one angle, far away and behind multiple items in the viewing range. I think if you were to look at a different angle of viewing you would seeing a different story.
Requesting for a provincial body to investigate police related deaths, injuries and complaints is a logical and beneficial statement. Ask the government to make a body to investigate all provincial related police issues similar to Ontario’s Special Investigative Unit. Make that part of the contract.
Lastly about the inquiry, the provincial head of the RCMP has recognized the authority of the inquiry and made it clear from the beginning that they will cooperate. It has been the lawyers of the 4 members that have been trying to sideline the authority. Keep in mind the lawyers are doing what lawyers do, protecting their clients. So blame the lawyers not the RCMP.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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In my opinion; The Cat is out of the bag; why was this inquiry ever needed in the first place?
Doesn’t the video clearly show what happen? A picture is really worth a thousand words isn’t it, and a video/audio worth it’s weight in gold, when it comes to revealing the credibility of some of our national police force members and leaders and their investigations and how they operate.
Could it have been that all the Government and the RCMP tried to do here, in calling this public inquiry, is use this inquiry to derail or destroy any chances for those members to be charged and for the improper actions of the force to be reviewed in a controlled area, that all.
Maybe they didn’t want the inquiry to focus on what they did for a good reason and maybe because it’s standard protocol in their defense to lay blame at the feet of others instead of focusing on their own actions and on the truth.
Could it be they tried to focus another inquiry on what someone else did to justify their repeated decisions that morning to use the tazer, even after Robert gripped his heart, attempting once again to validate their apparent lack of experience on the term “excited delirium” to justify another death, showing their apparent disregard for human life, as he laid subdued in cuffs, dead on the floor of this B.C. International Airport.
I applaud all those people who came forth and spoke the truth even though they faced great opposition by the force itself. This kind of honesty is needed today more than ever before in these times and they should be honored for their faithfulness to their callings and credited with honesty in their individual departments, as honest members of society. This kind of person stands out as honest and above board in the eyes of Canadians.
As for me this points to excessive force and murder instead of the lame brain excuse, that those four police officers fully trained with body amour tried to establish during this inquiry, as they pointed their finger one after the other at Robert dishonoring this man and the force, pointing out how they had to use this kind of force and out of the ordinary actions to protect their own lives that morning from this visitor from Poland who was lost in a strange country, exhausted who’s only crime was he didn’t speak English as he kept CRYING out for HELP in his own native language.
This is DISHORIBLE to say the least and I hope this NEVER has to happen to someone again, especially someone from a distant country and I hope that justice will be done here instead of the injustices we have seen so far.
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The reason you do not see the RCMP presence in Ontario and Quebec is because of politics. However, in the LEA community if you want to fund major organized crime investigations, undercover operations, Proceeds of Crime investigations, you turn to the RCMP and with them comes the Federal money. Do not think that there is not millions spent and untold man hours put in by the RCMP. You just do not see it. Where do you think a lot of the money comes for the large biker investigations and intelligence probes leading up to that? The organs such as CFSEU (Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit) in Toronto is mostly Federal money. Any Ottawa flag is an anathema in Quebec, so the RCMP input is usually minimized by political design.
As far as the Musical Ride, it is totally funded by donations the last time I looked. So they really got it. Remember when the deep cuts came, that is when some Einstein figured they could save a carload and close the training academy, and did. Still suffering those effects today. Had they not wound down then closed the facility, they would be light years ahead of the rest of the crowd at this LEA point and I believe, maintained their standards.
The politicos have already privately assured the RCMP that the contract in BC will be renewed. There would have been no substantial investment in the Chilliwack base and expansion contracts to the training academy with out some form of reassurance that the dollars could be spent to augment and improve service in the Province. It would really be something if they reversed themselves on that one.
With the economy somewhat in the tank, the last thing a governing party is going to need is a whopping tax increase to fund a transition, when the majority of people are satisfied with their RCMP or Municipal PD.
And of course where would the manpower come from for the federal responsibility for major international events? Think the Olympic bill is, or the APEC bill was big? Try all unionized, untrained police labor for the task.
SC is quite correct in the 2012 deadline. Although the RCMP could up and leave, the Province could not possibly be ready for such a transition in 2 years, without totally turning over 100% of its focus to such a problem.
One other point, the Feds in Ottawa shave off 5% of municipal contracts to fund Ottawa and its “administration” costs. Ask any municipal finance department and they would just get a glazed look if you asked how the RCMP/Federal/Provincial/Municipal books are run. I guess to be fair, they supply bomb squads, lab resources, boats, planes, helicopters and other logistical support, drug operation funding, supposedly free of charge. Something that a Province or Municipality would have to pony up for if it had its own. Or, do without.
RCMP watch is incorrect in the mandatory service delivery contract in BC. Perhaps in the Maritimes, but not here. You ask what is stopping them? $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.
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Can someone explain what to do with thousands and thousands of unassigned officers if and when they pull out of provincial and municipal police duties in 2012?
Send them to a good police academy for training, some to AAA and retire the rest, then start over or you will have the same old thing …
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What Speaking_My_Mind says about the federal government having a “poor track record running anything” I think is a key point in understanding some of the animosity towards the RCMP contract that currently exists in B.C. Lots of people who do not want the RCMP in B.C. anymore have echoed the sentiment that Ottawa has a “poor track record running anything.” Perhaps we are dealing with a case of alienation in the “West beyond the West.”
DT is quite right in pointing out that the savings we get using the RCMP come from the fact that the force is non-union. Recently, the Mayor of Surrey (Dianne Watts) attacked her counterpart in Vancouver’s call for a regional police service in Greater Vancouver. In an eloquent statement she praised the RCMP’s professionalism, its impressive track record, its 58-year history in the municipality (the Mounties took over from Surrey’s municipal force in 1951, the things you can learn on the Internet…). Then she stated the significant savings that Surrey enjoyed using the Mounties and that if Surrey had a unionized municipal force, they would demand two officers in every patrol car.
Well, I suspect that there are sections of Whalley that should have two officers in every patrol car Dianne.
If we move towards provincial policing in this province or even towards regional policing in Greater Vancouver, the former-Mounties will unionize.
To get back to a comment the moderator said earlier about RCMP management reconsidering its contract policing role. I recall that a former Commissioner of the RCMP, Robert Simmonds, suggested that the RCMP get out of contract policing in the 1980s. Simmonds felt that the RCMP were primarily Canada’s federal law enforcement agency and was worried about the contract policing mandate becoming unweildy. I think he was also well aware that the provinces wanted a bargain and the federal government wanted to see a profit, so the Mounties would continue to put up with staffing and equipment shortages which would undermine the force’s ability to get the job done. At the time, Trudeau was trying to repatriate the Constition and the recession of the early 1980s was in full swing. Nobody listened to Simmond’s suggestion.
Simmonds was pretty certain that the RCMP officers involved in contract policing would go on to have rewarding careers in the new provincial, regional, and municipal forces that would have been created. The Mounties would have provided a cadre of highly skilled police officers to the contract policing provinces and the force would have gotten out of contract policing on a high note.
Good discussion people, I’m enjoying the debate.
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Is it time indeed? RCMP Watch poses the most interesting question of all.
And will RCMP brass really walk into negotiations with the BC (and other provincial and territorial governments) and say: ‘Look, folks, we just wanted to have a brief meeting here today to let you know no matter how much you may want us and regardless of how much money you’re willing to pay, we just aren’t interested. So when the contract is up, we’re out of here.’
And what would that look like? What percentage of the total force is directly assigned to provincial and municipal policing? I suspect it is a very large number. Then what? Does Ottawa send out directives for all redundant RCMP officers to report back to headquarters to await reassignment or termination processing?
I have spent time in Ontario and Quebec and as regards policing the RCMP is damn near invisible except for security detail at a very few large airports and the occasional mention of their involvement with provincial and municipal police in drug raids and other arrests. The reach and visibility of the Ontario Provincial Police, La Sûreté du Québec, and well staffed municipal police departments leads me to believe the number of RCMP officers when expressed as a percentage of total police labour hours in those provinces is minuscule. Contrast that to the percentage of police labour hours that the RCMP provides in BC and you start to get an idea of the colossal organizational grief Ottawa would inflict on itself by pulling the plug. And one presumes federal policing duties are already being carried out by current RCMP personnel across Canada and at embassies and consulates worldwide. So can someone explain what to do with thousands and thousands of unassigned officers if and when they pull out of provincial and municipal police duties in 2012?
And there is another fly in the ointment at least as far as a 2012 date is concerned. Anyone want to bet a cup of coffee that some provinces and municipalities may be unable to meet that transition date with a police force ready to take over at 12:01 am of the assigned date? If not the RCMP either sets and elastic ‘whenever you guys are ready’ date or armies of lawyers line up in federal court to seek an injunction preventing the withdrawal of essential services.
Ai Yi Yi Yi Yi! It produces a headache just thinking about it. Which I suspect may be the real reason for RCMP Management letting it be known they are thinking of pulling the provincial and municipal policing service off their a la carte menu. I will need to be convinced they are serious and not just playing a game of brinksmanship to scare politicians and the public in the hope of being begged on bended ‘anything goes’ knees to stay on. And I’m not convinced. Yet.
For years Canadian corporations have joked about a budget tactic borrowed from the RCMP when facing hard times. It’s called “Give ‘em the Musical Ride”.
It works like this. If senior management wants to tighten its belt and cut budgets a directive is usually sent out asking departments and divisions what would be the effect of a certain percentage cut in budgets. Often the directive contains two or three targets say like a 10%, 20% and 30% cut. If you really want to protect your budget you offer up a program that is really popular in hopes of getting the guys with the weed wacker to back off.
It reputedly came from a time when federal austerity demanded federally funded departments and the RCMP prepare for budget cuts. Genius strategizing in the RCMP said ‘Give ‘em the Musical Ride’. It was suggested by the RCMP the Musical Ride would have to go as it is “non-essential”. And it worked. Politicians panicked and left the budget alone, so the story goes.
So I wonder if we are being given the Musical Ride?
But like I say, what the hell do I know…
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To stay within the boundaries of the current Provincial Police Services Agreement, contracting provinces only need to employ one RCMP member to perform provincial policing duties.
There is also nothing currently preventing them from starting their own provincial policing agencies.
So what is stopping them?
If RCMP members were to switch uniforms and become provincial police officers, would the culture not remain the same?
Salient points MS and SC. I would add to the mix an expansion on SC’s 4th point which travels to the following discipline point.
Due to the “times” the RCMP have changed from a paramilitary organization in all aspects to only paramilitary in some aspects. In days past there were some absolutes that we do not have today.
One is you could be summarily dismissed by the chain of command. With the Force now falling under the CLC, labor law, administrative law, Federal Court actions, this is no longer possible. “Duty to accommodate”, “reasonable assistance and guidance”,” constructive dismissal” and substance abuse programs are now woven into the fabric of not only society but the Force as well. We as a society have done this. You now see the consequences. People would still rather summarily fire the YVR4, which in the “old” days may just have happened. But not now. The road to dismissal is a logistical and administrative boondoggle of red tape and “documentation”. The RCMP had it right in the very first place.
Second, to maintain standards, prevent corruption and spread talent, the RCMP members were never posted to their home province lest they run into or associate with old comrades. Regular transfers hither and yon prevented anybody from becoming too comfortable with any groups or areas, thereby preventing corruption. Promotions were at the behest of the chain of command military style where you got promoted by being noticed with your work ethic and results. Being promoted usually meant a location change. A spreading of the knowledge, a prevention for corruption, and a real persuasion for conformity. You now have to beg for people to actually take a promotion if it interferes with their “lifestyle”. Those that willingly prostrate themselves for any promotion may well be the ones you do not want. I provide you with the LMD of BC as a prime example of this. Positions in the major offices in the LMD have to be put out nationally to see if anyone wants it, even though many qualified applicants for the position rest with the LMD boundaries. Why? Because the position filling on promotion is now voluntary.
I would suggest SC, that you could not discriminate against former RCMP officers gaining employment with a new Regional/Provincial establishment because of the labor laws, discrimination laws, etc.
As I have mentioned before and touched on by MS, the “more with less” is a non union perk for the government. Although in “policy” the LMD and BC detachments have minimum shift requirements, it is not adhered to nor enforced by anybody, which would not be the case with a unionized Regional or Provincial Force.
I suspect that some form of local accountability is destined from the latest debacle. I think there is at present but it is voluntary, and the people would probably like it absolute. Whichever, you will not satisfy everyone, and the outcomes will be the same.
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In the age of “community policing” the RCMP has polices that often discourage members from returning to the home province – such as H division. I think provinces would be better served being policed by their own kind as they understand the people and local customs.
Also, the federal government has a very poor track record of running anything. Ontario and Quebec do a good job running their provinces, why can’t everyone else?
I am in the United States quite a bit and the state police organizations are much better (and much more respected) than the RCMP and have a pride that hasn’t existed in the force in many years! The RCMP’s time has come and gone….
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Social Critic, there is a set of guidelines in the current policing contracts which deal with some of the issues regarding a potential “divorce” of any province and the RCMP. The vehicles and buildings are provided by the province (or contracting municipality) and are simply to be returned. The contracting province (or municipality) can purchase surplus equipment that the RCMP finds it no longer needs (firearms, computers, etc.) or get a credit for materials that the contractee helped the RCMP purchase but cannot use with their new force (uniforms). Having said that, the RCMP have not lost many contracts and have never lost a province. It is the “undiscovered country” of federal/provincial relations.
Currently, civilian employees of the RCMP can be divided into three different groups. Larger contracting municipalities (Surrey, Kelowna, etc.) will provide support staff for the local RCMP detachment who are civic employees (and generally represented by CUPE). The smaller rural detachments have civilian employees provided by the province who are employees of the provincial Ministry of the Solicitor General & Public Safety (and they are represented by the BCGEU). Only the civilian employees working for the federal RCMP in this province are actually employed by the federal government (and represented by CPAC; for years the RCMP couldn’t unionize but its members’ civilian support staff could).
Where the federal government might be anxious is with the RCMP members themselves. It is likely most of the RCMP officers serving B.C. would simply switch uniforms but, as DT points out, its not as simple as that. There would be a lot of anxious Mounties waiting for the other shoe to drop. Thats 6000 anxious and potentially angry voters.
As the Moderator points out, this is probably the time to do this if we are going to do it. But the way forward is uncertain for everyone.
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The use of hollow point bullets against an unarmed individual (which are now standard issue) for the RCMP and the tazer gun in my opinion are quite capable (if used improperly) of stopping someone dead in his tracks (without much complaints or fear of reprimand) providing there are no camera phones rolling or credible witnesses pushing to be heard, because either way it will surely be classified as self defense (by Major Crimes Homicide Investigators) no matter what evidence or eye witnesses will say, they could be lost or pushed deliberately far away from the file and declared none existent.
RCMP wanted the inquiries direction to focus as usual on the victim?????
With all the public releases coming out against Robert the Polish visitor entering Canada legally they tried to convince us that he was a danger and painted him out to be similar to a BOGGY MAN responsible for his own death that early morning at 1:30 a.m. and not those four nice RCMP members, who only brutally did their jobs, giving ingenious information right from the beginning to the finish, at that NICE PUBLIC INQUIRY, which the goal really of those four members was to deceive and ridicule the whole process and alter the findings in favor of the RCMP, who’s main goal was to point their figures in perfect harmony individually at Robert while others in the force helped build a case in favor of the RCMP and against the Polish visitor even up to booking a flight to Poland to go fishing.
So now they say they failed to influence the inquiry and it’s direction, their tactics failed miserably and in disgrace the focus rather shifted on the four RCMP members (where it should have been from day one) and the excessive force that was used which forced the Deputy Chief of the RCMP at the end to apologize for their actions in killing this Poland visitor and later causing the Commissioner of the RCMP to back down from his earlier original statements supporting his officers to do the same.
Is this what we want or need in Canada?
So now what about the investigators that put this case together and cleared those members of the RCMP, what about those RCMP members?
It’s like having a drunk stagger through town a hundred years ago causing all kinds of problems and embarrassing moments but I say maybe it’s worst today when those drunks are members of the RCMP who’s lot in life is to embarrass this country and erase the good they have done in the pass 100 years in the eyes of all the Nations who BELIEVE Canadians to be above board and JUST, who look in times of trouble to us for DIRECTIONS.
It’s giving Canada and Canadians a black name in the global community shifting the focus from being Peace makers to putting none English speaking visitors/imigrants at high risk who’s only crime could be crying out for help.
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With Provincial policing contracts expiring in 2012, RCMP management is reconsidering providing policing services to the provinces, territories and to the 200 or so municipalities it does today.
They could then concentrate on Federal policing duties. They already play this role in Ontario and Quebec.
The current Provincial Police Services Agreement expires 31 March 2012. Is it time?
In all honesty, I don’t know the right answer to that question with any kind of certainty. Yet.
Is it time to seek a province wide replacement? I guess the best suggestion I can come up with today is a rather tepid sounding: “It depends.”
Here are the things I am certain of.
It will come as no surprise British Columbia has and will continue to have substantial policing needs – no matter who provides the labour, equipment, real estate and organizational strategies. That the cost will be big is also a given. And it shouldn’t shock anyone that such a transition would take a long time before the “cut over” date could be decided.
I am also quite certain there would be a fierce, well financed and “no holds barred” counteroffensive from the RCMP and a host of federal, and maybe also provincial politicians. Organizations seek power and security. Threaten either and one may expect a fight to the finish.
Imagine how Ottawa might respond if a provincial force became a reality that could result some years hence in up to 6000 RCMP officers, potentially thousands of redundant civilian employees and all their equipment and supplies being “returned”? One fleeting mental image I have is akin to what it must have looked like when the Red Army loaded it’s troops and equipment on trains and headed back to Russia when they quit the eastern European countries they occupied since 1945. Sure, it’s not going to happen that way but it might seem that way to Ottawa. I can imagine government strategists asking themselves “What the hell are we going to do with all those unused officers and all their stuff???!!!”
It occurs to me to ask a few questions on which I think there would have to be extensive public debate and no small amount of consensus before even the planning process for a provincial force could begin:
1. Why should BC replace the RCMP?
2. Flowing directly from (1), what essential performance standards and objectives must the new force meet to be judged a successful replacement for the old (and not just a carbon copy with different uniforms)?
3. What is the design template for the new force? What are the material and labour costs? How long will it take to become staffed, trained and operational? What is the transition date and the detailed transition plan?
4. Are redundant Mounties eligible to apply for employment? Who decides and on what criteria to hire or reject Mountie applicants?
There are many others to ask in addition to these but for now these would be a good start. Build a consensus around them and maybe a provincial force could become a reality. Fail to build consensus and I think it would be almost impossible to overcome the inertia of such an entrenched institution.
One more thing. If it turns out British Columbians harbour a deep and irresistible appetite for substantial change in the RCMP and if that desire could be translated into a set of clear specific, measurable objectives a credible threat to embark on the road to replacing the RCMP may bring results by itself.
It is an oversimplification but a useful one to reference the progressive approach to discipline. If an organization is beset with an employee(s) who misbehaves it may ignore the behaviour or it may act. Ignore the bad behaviour (be it lateness, unauthorized absence, fighting, theft, sabotage, substance abuse, insubordination or what have you) and you say to the employee and all the coworkers that anything goes. You don’t care. There are no consequences for bad performance. Soon some of the average and better than average staff start asking themselves why am I trying so hard when that jerk over there gets away with it? No one seems to care.
Conversely if you take action and ratchet up the consequences until the employee is facing dismissal you usually get their and others attention. Sending the “or else” letter and being consistent so the recipient of the “or else” letter knows you will punt him or her through the uprights of life usually gets attention and action to comply with standards and expectations. It also gets the attention of coworkers who know you mean business.
I expect if the consensus existed and was sufficiently “tsunami” in appearance, the “politicians” in the RCMP brass would respond. And probably no small number of other ranks too. For once “political instincts” might serve to help rather than hinder.
But what the hell do I know…
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Generally speaking, polls of RCMP officers back in the early 1980s when they were thinking about bringing in metropolitan policing in Greater Vancouver (which I think they probably should do, but that is another debate) showed that over 80% of the RCMP officers employed by the suburban Vancouver detachments would be willing to transfer over to the new metro force. I suspect that the numbers would be similar today and probably the same would hold true for the officers in other parts of the province as well. The head of the association representing the RCMP said that the majority of RCMP members in B.C. would be willing to join regional forces in Greater Vancouver and Victoria and a new BCPP if the province chose not to renew its contract. But B.C. is under-policed already and the province would have to recruit officers to fill vacancies that already exist (due to the Mounties being asked to do more and more with less and less) and those RCMP officers who chose to stay with the Mounties and move to contract policing provinces. And the province would have to expand the JI and/or form a new training centre for the new BCPP. And the federal subsidy would be gone forever.
And if we found, in a few years, we didn’t like the new BCPP and wanted the RCMP back. Forget it. The Feds will never have the kind of resources they had in 1950 ever again. Once the Mounties are just federal law enforcement in this province, thats it. There is no going back.
We could do it, and if we are going to do it, it should be now. But there are drawbacks to going it alone and rejoining Ontario and Quebec’s exclusive club.
The reason I harp on about having the RCMP brought under the umbrella of the province’s Police Act is that it would end the provincialist arguement against using the RCMP. Your examples of problems with the VPD and Edmonton PD are apt, there is no Panacea out there but as the province is constitionally responsible for the administration of justice it makes sense that the provincial RCMP should be accountable to the province. That takes the wind out of the sales of a lot of those in oposition to contract policing.
Most people do not have an opinion either way on the issue of RCMP contract policing in this province. But there seems to be a growing segment of the population that is utterly opposed to the RCMP remaining as provincial police.
I doubt Campbell will let let Heed cancel the RCMP contract, unless Harper’s people really fumble the ball in the current contract negotiations.
Since it would be a tremendous expenditure to move away from the RCMP, I suspect the issue might require a referendum vote in which the pro-contract side and the pro-provincial police side could argue their cases before the vast majority in this province who have no real opinion on the issue.
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I am not sure the frustration is a majority item.
Those with a long memory, or those with some research skills will note that during the late 1970’s an incident in the LMD where a suspected impaired driver/passenger was shot by an off duty RCMP member created a firestorm of controversy over whether or not they should be policing the area, as well as the use of hollow point bullets (which are now standard issue).
The same types of controversy arose over several other issues over the years as recorded by the Vancouver Sun. A replacement of the RCMP is not nearly as simple as some may assume, and would not be a panacea for their purported outrage. For example, where would the 6000 replacement officers come from? All departments are presently in a race for applicants and cannot fulfill present requirements let alone political promises as it is. Therefore it is reasonable to assume that the majority of newly minted regional and/or provincial officers would be from the present RCMP ranks. Would this satisfy the nay-sayers for replacement? I think not. A person is the same despite the uniform.
Say what you will about local accountability, however, just in BC, recall the Stanley Park 6. What about the Paul matter? How about the channel changer shot by the VPD? The list is extensive and by no means exclusive to the RCMP.
The cost of replacement is staggering. The study undertaken by Surrey is a prime example. A substantial increase in manpower would be required plus you would have to deal with a police union for wages, benefits, manpower, equipment, a la VPD. The Justice institute does not have near the capacity to staff an LMD regional police, let alone a provincial one. I guess you could contract that to the RCMP facility in Chilliwack or Regina, but at what cost?
Now you have an avid RCMP hater in the BC provincial cabinet in the form of Kash Heed, the unsuccessful candidate for the chief of police for Vancouver. I am sure his views will be set forth to the provincial government at every opportunity. It will be interesting to see whether his comments to the West Vancouver council about how the West Vancouver PD is a first class operation and need never be replaced, fare with his new job description.
Interesting websites such as internet “watch” sites on the police like: edmontonpolicewatch.org, are instructive. I refer to the statistics I have provided before with respect to the percentage of complaints against various forces.
The persuasion of the 5th estate is not to be underestimated. Right or wrong, they can have a paradigm shift effect on the populace. For example the series of articles in the Vancouver Sun on the polygamists at Bountiful BC. There would be no interest in that except for the writing’s of the reported who took it on as a mission.
So if the papers gave the same coverage to the daily good deeds and investigations undertaken by the police departments, you would have a different situation with a large group of nay-sayers.
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Sorry no one has the ball, everyone is to busy watching to be any good to anyone right now… call it waht you want I will call it OUT TO LUNCH!
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There is a lot of frustration out there. This isn’t the only ‘letter to the editor’ I have read that echoes this sentiment in the last few years. The sentiment has been echoed in opinion pieces and editorials in the B.C. press as well. Retired Justice Wallace Craig has often written on this subject and recently his thoughts were echoed by former-B.C. Liberal leader, Gordon Gibson in a piece in the Vancouver Sun.
And did anyone notice that apart from the two mainstream contenders in the last provincial election (that being the B.C. Liberals and NDP) every other party had in its platform a promise to replace the RCMP with a provincial police force?
I, myself, have wondered in the past if that is not the solution to B.C’s policing concerns.
I do not think that these sentiments can be dismissed, too many people in B.C. seem to have developed them. The RCMP has expressed a willingness to operate under the same rules governing the municipal police in this province. The provincial government must make that a key point in the current negotiations to renew the contract. And the federal government must accept that accountability to the province is essential (and constitutional).
The ball is in the politician’s court on that issue.
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