Mounties greet new year with long list of resolutions

(Canadian Press) Ottawa – Like many a weary reveller, Canada’s national police force will enter 2009 with a list of earnest resolutions in hand and an honest desire for self-improvement top of mind.

The good news – the RCMP’s year-end hangover throbs less than the head-pounding doozies of recent memory.

The list of goals for the new year, however, is more sobering.

Long and complex, it’s the kind of regimen that would make it easy to stay in bed and pull the covers over one’s Stetson-clad head.

In 2008 the RCMP set out on a path of wrenching transformation aimed at modernizing a tattered Canadian institution and restoring a sense of pride to those who wear the unmistakeable headgear and famous red serge.

The formidable effort comes amid looming challenges for a sprawling organization of 26,000 men and women expected to do everything from nabbing speeding drivers to arresting international terrorists.

A global economic crisis has thrown government finances into disarray, scaling back planned pay hikes for rank-and-file Mounties due to a 1.5-per-cent cap on increases across the federal public service.

The Conservative government’s freeze kicks in as the force struggles to retain experienced members and attract enough new recruits to fill hundreds of vacancies and replace waves of imminent retirees.

“For a lot of the RCMP, they’ve heard the talk, now they want to see the walk,” said Linda Duxbury, a business professor at Ottawa’s Carleton University who has studied the force’s management and culture.

“And not just from within the RCMP, but they want to see the walk from outside. And they’re not seeing that. In fact, just the opposite – they’re hearing one thing and seeing, and feeling in their pocketbooks, something completely different.”

Staff Sgt. Brian Roach, a representative for members on labour relations issues, says the federal wage hike rollback is hurting efforts to prevent thousands of officers eligible for retirement from leaving the force.

He fears the Mounties will be caught short trying to police two global events in 2010, the Winter Olympics in British Columbia and a gathering of G-8 leaders in Ontario.

“Where are we pulling these people out of, a rabbit’s hat? Because we’re going to have a tough time doing it,” he said. “The rubber band is stretched to the point of, she’s gonna snap here big time, and at the risk of public safety.”

Keith Clark, the RCMP assistant commissioner who heads the change process, acknowledges the importance of having enough people to do the job.

“I do worry a bit that we will lose some experienced officers,” he said. “I think that puts even more pressure on our recruiting system to make sure that we can get the numbers in that we need to make sure that we’re replacing folks that are moving on to retirement.”

The pressure for fundamental change within the RCMP became impossible to ignore following years of strained budgets, scandal and tragedy.

Critics said the venerable horsemen had lost their way, failed to keep pace with the demands of modern policing, and simply did too many things to do any of them particularly well.

In the desperate weeks following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the police force was hastily assigned to the anti-terrorism beat with insufficient preparation or savvy to handle a file largely ceded years before to its cousins at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

As well, former commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli resigned following contradictory testimony to Parliament about the case of Maher Arar, an Ottawa man tortured in a Syrian prison over false allegations – fuelled by the Mounties – that he was a dangerous extremist.

William Elliott, a civilian and consummate government insider, succeeded Zaccardelli in mid-2007 with a mandate to revamp the force for a new century.

Just over a year ago, a federal task force on the RCMP called for major changes to the structure, independence and oversight of the Mounties. Toronto lawyer David Brown, who led the review, said the RCMP was hopelessly tangled in bureaucracy and required more authority to manage its own staff and budget.

Drawing on feedback from more than 2,000 Mounties, task force members were struck by employees’ steadfast pride and dedication. But they also saw disillusionment and anger stemming from shortages of people and equipment, sheer overwork, and health and safety problems.

The Brown task force report, Rebuilding the Trust, made dozens of recommendations on everything from recruitment and performance evaluations to public relations and ethics to address the “deep and fundamental” problems.

It said the RCMP needed a civilian board of management to oversee organization and administration of the RCMP, and a refurbished complaints watchdog with more teeth.

Elliott embraced the message. “Let me be clear,” he said. “There is simply no other option. The RCMP must change.”

In 2008, the commissioner cited initial accomplishments, including faster processing time for recruits, a training allowance for cadets, a family resource website, new leadership training, changes in senior staffing and a national backup policy to bolster the ranks of tiny detachments.

Implementation of the backup policy is keenly awaited at dozens of small, isolated posts, some with just one or two members, where resources are thinly stretched.

Clark says decisions on how to proceed, and the necessary funding, will come soon. “I have every indication that the money will be there.”

Roach says officers want the backup policy in effect as soon as possible. “We’re not getting that done quick enough for the members’ wellness.”

A five-member council plucked from outside the force to help guide the overall transformation of the RCMP applauded progress in a November report, but added “a great deal remains to be done.”

Clark says reform efforts are on track, and much indeed lies ahead.

Considerable research is underway to determine the hallmarks of a healthy workplace and what sort of leadership style will reinforce this, he said. “I think some of the most important work that we’re going to undertake for the long-term benefit of the force is just beginning.”

Despite the emphasis on the future, ghosts of controversies past continued to haunt the force in 2008.

The Mounties closed the books on a probe into damaging leaks that tarred Arar’s reputation without laying charges.

A federal inquiry into the imprisonment of three other Arab-Canadian men jailed abroad found RCMP information-sharing likely contributed to their torture.

And questions persisted about the October 2007 case of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, who died after he was repeatedly Tasered and pinned to the floor by RCMP officers at Vancouver International Airport. A British Columbia inquiry into the stun guns and the circumstances of Dziekanski’s death resumes in the new year.

An amateur video of the incident contradicted an RCMP assertion that he remained combative after first being zapped with the Taser.

Clark says the force needs to communicate better – both inside the RCMP and in its dealings with the media and the broader public.

He sees the Mounties as historically cautious when it comes to administration, an approach that has stifled bold thinking.

Clark says members across the country are now contributing valuable ideas that are helping fuel the force’s transformation.

“There is no question that they’re ready for change,” he said. “There’s no question that they want to participate in it.”

“My worry is we can’t make it happen quick enough for them.”