Chad Skelton, Vancouver, B.C. (Vancouver Sun) – Public confidence in the RCMP’s integrity, honesty and professionalism has plummeted among B.C. residents in the past three years, according to surveys commissioned by the force itself.
And those same surveys show the RCMP’s reputation for honesty has also taken a beating among the other agencies it works with.
Since 2003, the RCMP has been conducting surveys of the public, contract policing clients and “stakeholders” to get feedback about the kind of job it’s doing.
Two of the many questions the survey asks are whether “the RCMP is an organization with integrity and honesty” and if “the RCMP demonstrates professionalism in its work.”
For years, B.C. residents gave the RCMP high marks, with roughly nine in 10 residents agreeing with both statements.
But starting in 2007, the year Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski was Tasered by RCMP members and died, those figures started to drop — and fast.
Between 2006 and 2009, the share of B.C. residents who felt the RCMP demonstrated professionalism dropped from 94 per cent to 74 per cent. And those with confidence in the force’s integrity and honesty went from 91 per cent to 69 per cent.
The survey found a similar drop among the RCMP’s B.C. “stakeholders” — a group that includes agencies it works with, such as government departments, non-governmental organizations and the private sector.
Since 2006, the share of B.C. stakeholders who agree the Mounties have integrity and honesty has dropped from 86 per cent to 69 per cent.
And confidence in the force’s professionalism has dropped from 86 per cent to 68 per cent.
The only B.C. group surveyed not to show a dramatic drop in confidence was the RCMP’s contract policing clients, such as B.C. mayors and councillors. Their view of the force’s honesty and integrity remained flat at 72 per cent. And their opinion of the force’s professionalism went up slightly, from 78 per cent to 87 per cent.
RCMP spokesman Insp. Tim Shields said the force is concerned by the survey results.
“If the public doesn’t trust the police, people won’t come forward as witnesses, they won’t participate in investigations, they won’t report crimes,” he said. “Without trust, we cannot do our job.”
Asked how the force hopes to turn its image around, Shields pointed to the recent RCMP news conference with Dziekanski’s mother, Zofia Cisowski, announcing a settlement of her lawsuit against the force and changes to the force’s Taser policies.
“We are doing everything we can to demonstrate accountability to the public. And that includes admitting our mistakes publicly … and an explanation of what we’re doing to correct the problem,” he said.
The Vancouver Sun obtained the survey data through an access to information request.
The RCMP later informed The Sun it posts the survey data on its website. However, the figures are not displayed prominently on the website and the B.C. figures have not previously been reported.
The survey indicates public support for the Mounties is down nationally, too, but not nearly as badly — dropping from 91 per cent to 81 per cent on the question of honesty and integrity and from 93 per cent to 85 per cent on professionalism.
While B.C. residents’ trust in the Mounties appears shaken, the survey showed those who had contact with the force were generally happy with the experience. Nine out of 10 B.C. residents surveyed who had dealings with the RCMP said the person they interacted with acted professionally, was courteous and respectful and treated them fairly.
The RCMP’s 2009 public survey, conducted last summer, involved nearly 7,000 people, including about 450 from B.C.
With that many respondents, the margin of error for the B.C. figures is plus or minus 4.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
The number of B.C. stakeholders and contract policing clients surveyed was much smaller, with about 50 of each surveyed.
The question of whether or not people think things would change as a result of the survey is a telling question. The few that took the time to complete the survey do not feel the results would be beneficial. You would have to add that to the number of people who just didn’t do the survey for the same reason. That number would be a higher notation of dissatisfaction than the actual results. Perhaps management should find the silence deafening instead of spinning it.
Not unlike the survey undertaken by the members representatives which was highly skewed in favor of keeping the same old ineffective system “with changes”. The survey should have had only one question, “do you want a union/association or not?”
There is a reason that the change management teams are in a state of atrophy. I would suggest that the average working officer has no faith in a committee primarily made up of management that are the root of the intransigence in the first instance.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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The first thing that pops out at me after reading this article is quote: “The RCMP’s 2009 public survey, conducted last summer, involved nearly 7,000 people, including about 450 from B.C”, unquote. Only 450 out of 7000 people from across Canada were surveyed in a province that has @ 1/3 of the force working in BC. It must have been someone who’s spent all his or her time in Ottawa and doesn’t know where BC is? In most surveys that have been done within the force over that past years, someone always spins the results so that it fits within the make up of the force, which means making the brass look good and making the results look good for their next promotion? I recall one survey where a detachment of @ 75 members was conducted on moral within the office and how management was dealing with member’s needs. Only 24 or 25 completed the questions. The results were poor but in the end the OIC spun the results of the survey around by saying that since only 25 members had completed the survey, 50 members or 66% of the office must have believed that everything was great in the detachment because they didn’t feel the need to complete the survey. When in fact the 50 members didn’t take the time because they knew nothing would be done even if they completed the survey. Do as many surveys as you want, it will only keep destroying the moral within the rank-in-file. The press get a hold of the surveys and put their own spin on the numbers and would like to make it sound that every officer on the street is a problem. The young men and woman who are on the street working 24 hours a day are doing the job they have been trained to do and doing it well. The public should be supporting them, not allowing the press to demoralizing them. if you think about it hard enough, when the press judges the RCMP, they keep referring to an occurrence that happened 3 years ago. The press makes the Dziekanski tasering sound as if it transpired yesterday. It was 3 years ago and it’s time to move on and start dealing with the difficulties of today. Stop comparing the men and women in uniform employed to keep the streets safe to the YVR/4. It’s time we all move on. You can also have as many surveys you want; it’s time that the public hold the force and Ottawa accountable for policing. The surveys are in, the force and Ottawa can spin the results anyway they want, but they keep promoting them anyway.
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I don’t believe in surveys anymore, all they do is swing people in one direction or the other and it’s usually paid for at our expense, do you?
Hot debate. What do you think?
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