Tamara King, Winnipeg Sun
Manitoba is about three dozen Mounties short, and the force is using some retired RCMP officers to fill the ranks.
In one case, a retired officer who’s old enough to collect his Canadian Pension Plan and Old Age Pension will soon be strapping on a gun and heading out to patrol Manitoba Highways.
In September, there were 33.5 officer vacancies within the Manitoba RCMP, said Tory justice critic Kelvin Goertzen.
“We think there are already too few officers … now there’s a shortage,” he said.
The 30-something positions are “vacancies” caused by situations like maternity and sick leave, said Justice Minister Dave Chomiak, disputing there’s a shortage.
“There’s vacancies as the result of administrative issues,” Chomiak said. “Administrative vacancies should be filled and should be filled by ex-RCMP officers.”
Chomiak points to a July 2005 decision to rehire retired officers. The reserve program will round out the vacancies, Chomiak said.
ONLY SEVEN
But since then, only seven retired Mounties have re-joined the force as officers in Manitoba. Another six will likely take to the streets sometime in the coming weeks.
Goertzen said the situation is “uncomfortable,” noting highway patrols in particular have been hit hard.
“In rural Manitoba, it’s very difficult to see RCMP on the highways these days,” said Goertzen, adding Mounties do more than hand out speeding tickets while on the road, such as looking for impaired drivers or drug couriers. “We can’t abandon our highways and let them become a drug corridor.”
Retired members wanting to join what’s known as the reserve program are required to do the same tests as new recruits, said RCMP Sgt. Robert Cooke. That includes finishing the RCMP physical test in under four minutes.
“They do all the things the regular members do,” Cooke said.
B.C. is the only other province that’s actively rehiring retired members. Mounties recently started the process of adopting the policy Canada-wide, said Const. Patricia Flood, an RCMP spokeswoman in Ottawa.
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