Bronwyn Eyre (StarPhoenix) – Canadians could be forgiven if they now associate “dysfunctional” and “toxic workplace” with the RCMP.
Alleged misappropriation of funds, capricious demotions, a top leadership in turmoil, botched investigations, the Robert Dziekanski scandal and 15 officers sent home during the Vancouver Olympics for everything from “inappropriate intoxication” to shoplifiting. What’s going on?
This can’t be the same iconic force that was so instrumental in the peaceful settlement of the West and has been the romantic subject of so many TV series and films. Take Rose Marie (1936), in which Nelson Eddy leads a rousing chorus of horse-riding Mounties:
“On through the hail/Like a pack of angry wolves on the trail/We are after you, dead or alive . . . If you’re the one/Better run, better run away/Son, you are done/Throw your gun, throw your gun away.”
These days, you’d be advised to run, better run away from getting Tasered. Meanwhile, apologies and the RCMP increasingly go together like Strathcona boots and Stetsons.
Earlier this week the RCMP apologized for not realizing sooner that a serial killer, Robert Pickton, was on the loose in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
The Mounties had to all but apologize last month after they initially ignored credible tips from Prince George eyewitnesses who saw an SUV that matched the description of the vehicle belonging to missing Alberta couple Lyle and Marie McCann.
“They never asked our names, our phone numbers or anything,” said Diana Bjorklund. The force has been criticized for not even launching an investigation into the McCanns’ disappearance until their daughter called police five days after their burned RV was found at an Alberta campground.
Last year, the RCMP had to apologize to the widower of a skier who died last year while stranded in the B.C. backcountry. Helicopters spotted at least three SOS messages the couple had written in the snow, but a rescue operation wasn’t launched until 10 days after they went missing. Why? Because search and rescue and the ski resort in question had apparently followed “missing skier protocols.”
In 2008, a hunter-tracker, not the RCMP, apprehended fugitive Allan Schoenborn, later convicted of killing his three children. Despite the force having poured “ample resources” into the 10-day search, the fugitive was found minutes from the crime scene.
Finally, who can forget the terrible images of Dziekanski, tasered to death at the Vancouver airport in 2007. Had it not been for a passerby who caught the entire episode on his cellphone — footage the RCMP initially seized and wouldn’t release — Canadians still wouldn’t know the truth.
The officers’ shameful conduct and “unbelievable, after-the-fact rationalizations,” according to Dziekanski inquiry commissioner, Tom Braidwood, were surely the force’s low point. So much for the RCMP’s motto, “Maintains le Droit” (usually translated as “maintain the right”).
And now: Chaos apparently reigns in upper RCMP ranks. Again.
Several commentators have pointed out that recent internal complaints about RCMP commissioner William Elliott are “unprecedented.”
But they forget how, only four years ago, senior RCMP officers brought out the knives against former commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli. After resigning in 2006, Zaccardelli was subsequently accused of lying under oath by his own officers over allegations of covering up the misappropriation of pension and insurance funds.
At a parliamentary hearing, when Zaccardelli denied suggestions the RCMP moves Mounties around on “punishment transfers,” there were audible gasps, even laughter, from fellow officers.
To try to solve the infighting, Prime Minister Harper appointed “civilian” and bureaucrat Elliott in 2007. But now, senior officers accuse Elliott (who, last year, attended a $44,000 “behavioural barriers to success at work” course) of being verbally abusive, close-minded, arrogant, insulting and even of throwing papers at another officer in a rage. Ouch!
A “workplace assessment” has been struck and the disgruntled officers have recently indicated they’re committed to “working through their issues.”
But there may be fresh controversies on the horizon. The assessment is being headed by former CSIS director, Reid Morton, who’s alleged to have OK’d the destruction of crucial wiretaps of Air India bombing suspects.
Is he really the best choice?
No nation can afford to have its police force become a laughing stock– or in the case of someone like Dziekanski, a force to fear. Dziekanski’s last word, “Why?” is what Canadians should be asking. Why has the RCMP degenerated into a scandal-of-the-month club?
Too many more discrediting episodes and the RCMP could face bureaucratic implosion.
RCMP a dysfunctional mess
Bronwyn Eyre (StarPhoenix) – Canadians could be forgiven if they now associate “dysfunctional” and “toxic workplace” with the RCMP
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The below comments were made by me on the below date.
D, In my humble opinion you have given an example of what you describe as a result of a dysfunctional organization. You didnot define “dysfunction”.
I have stated that the RCMP was a dysfunctional organization in the below article some time ago. I guess the Star Phoenix is just catching up.
The dysfunctional organization also includes. Don’t talk, don’t trust, don’t think, don’t feel, and don’t ask questions.
Don’t talk: The don’t talk rule is being forbidden to talk about what is going on inside the family (organization) or you will be ostracized and punished.
Don’t trust: Don’t trust your own feelings about what you see, feel, and experience.
Don’t think: Don’t think about what is going on around you. Just do what you are told and follow the group dynamics.
Don’t feel: Don’t feel any emotions. Just numb out.
Don’t ask questions: Don’t question why something is a certain way or why something that is happening.
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Sunday, April 27, 2008, 6:09:56 PM | Calvin Lawrence
Those of you who are now, or are past RCMP members; I would like to you consider a yes or no answer to the following questions:
• RCMP members compulsively protect their inner feelings
• Only certain feelings are ok to be openly expressed by the member
• Performance is more important than the member
• There are many taboo subjects and lots of secrets
• Everyone must conform to the highest ranking member’s ideas and values
• There is a great deal of control and shaming
• There are a lot of “shoulds” from the higher to the lower ranks.
• The rules are unclear, inconsistent, and rigid
• The atmosphere is frequently tense
• There is a great deal of anger and fear
• People feel tired hurt and disappointed
• A number of RCMP Members have low self-worth
• Coalitions form across generations(keeps repeating the process)
The above list is the traits of a dysfunctional family. These traits exist in all military and police organizations including the RCMP. What happens to people who criticizing the family? The family closes ranks and ostracizes the family member. The same process takes place in the RCMP organization. The RCMP is the name of a police organization. “People”! I repeat, “People” have to change before the organization will change. We cannot change what we do not acknowledge and this includes the RCMP.
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The good news D ,(if you can call it good news) is that all police organizations by their very make up are dysfunctional.
The bad news is contrary too your statement; the RCMP has always been a dysfunctional organization.
Calvin Lawrence
CGL Consulting
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Your post of 2010.09.12 @ 00:01 references “The case of the RCMP members who for seven minutes watched on cc video two females in custody engaging in a sex act in the drunk tank in Kamloops BC and did NOTHING to stop it. And according to reports one of the women was HIV positive.
Then in your following post you state: “I am disappointed that the story of the four RCMP members and three civilian employees who apparently watched two women engaging in a sex act while it custody in Kamloops has not been put on this site.”
There is in fact more than one article on this site dealing with that situation.
So it is a little confusing that you you have commented all over the site yet still have this conundrum before you. Perhaps you should try and clarify your comments in this regard.
I have read the Braidwood report and it is obvious there is issues with the YVR4, however, there was no cover up alleged by Mr. Braidwood, contrary to your overall opinion. Perhaps there will be charges which I am sure you will welcome, but you will have to wait until the Prosecutor finishes his examination of the new facts and the previously obtained facts and renders a decision.
The Ian Bush matter was thoroughly vetted by the CPC, perhaps you should read that report. I won’t even comment on your other assertions as they are just like the rest, baseless or over exaggerated to suit your hypothesis.
I think you have confused an organization made up of Canadian society with an altruistic vision of perfection that no organization has or will ever meet.
Now about that era?
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“I met a (sic) RCMP corporal a few months ago in a very small town and had a nice talk with him. He seemed like a pretty nice guy, do I trust him, absolutely NOT. They have lost my trust forever, even if Elliot makes massive changes it will take decades to rid the force of the “rot””
So of the 18,000 plus members of the RCMP, 14 divisions with nearly 800 service points across Canada and abroad, 268 isolated posts in remote areas including 25 in Nunavut, 23 in the Northwest Territories, and 7 in hamlets on the Arctic coast, you trust no one? Sad state of affairs. So by analogy if a member of any organization falters, say like Entwistle, your distrust now encompasses the entire organization? By the time you reach middle age there will be no organization/person that you trust. Perhaps you could name me one that you do trust at this time?
“Went for coffee today with a good friend and as usual the incompetence of the RCMP was the subject.” Perhaps before discussing your points of distrust and incompetence, you should ask the question: what good has the RCMP done today? One of your challenges that may be instructive, is where do I find that information?
You forget or don’t know that the RCMP is not a democracy. Elliot is in charge, he is backed by the government, he is a Deputy Minister. He does not need a vote to implement policy.
“One member (female) I saw the other day apprently (sic) quit on the spot when a superior told her she had to increase her traffic tickets by 50%”
Interesting that a person making over 70,000 dollars per year would quit because she was asked to increase her ticket output. If she only wrote 2 tickets in the month and worked in a traffic enforcement unit, 50% does not sound unreasonable. If that’s all it took for this person to quit, perhaps law enforcement wasn’t the wisest choice for an occupation. Such an example without clarification does nothing to support your assertions against an entire organization and its employees.
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“One member (female) I saw the other day”
“D” made the above comment.
I would hope that when ever you make a negative statement about an RCMP member that is male; you would indicate the gender.
That would be a fair request?
Calvin Lawrence
CGL Consulting
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To categorize the entire RCMP force as dysfunctional is ludicrous. Of the 3 million calls for service to the RCMP, how many go awry? Sometimes you just have to do the math dog. Certainly there are issues, and if you read thru this blog carefully you will be able to get a sense of some of those concerns. They are not alone in their issues, and have had issues in the past as all other departments had and will also continue to have. You have to render some context for an accurate picture.
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Well said; jamieinred. I hear the moral is low in the force. But I do hope that you are right that the large majority of serving RCMP members are embarassed and ashamed of what is going on and till this mess is cleaned up, if it can be, I do hope they continue to do their jobs with integrety.
Also, I do agree with you that they are dysfunctional, big time and that the management of the RCMP and highter ups don’t like to be told anything especially if it goes against them especially if you are a member who is reporting illegal, immoral or abhorent behaviour of another member, you better be prepared to find another job, or live a life of hell, especially if it involves upper management……they not only don’t want to hear about it, they won’t do nothing about it, kind of wrong isn’t it?
So I bet if you had a strong case you’d be the one out the door, what does this say about the force itself. I don’t think with an attitude like this that it can be saved, at all.
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Okay, let’s be perfectly clear on a few things. The large majority of serving RCMp members are embarassed and ashamed of what is going on, however they continue going to the calls. For every mistake made by members, no one reports how many calls to service were answered that went well and resulted in possible lives being saved…..yep, members make mistakes some agregious, and no one likes it. But the RCMP is a representation of our communities, the good the bad the ugly.
As for dysfunction, big time. The management of the RCMP don’t like to be told anything…and if you are a member who is reporting illegal, immoral or abhorent behaviour of amother member, you better be prepared to find another job, or live a life of hell, especially if it involves upper management……they not only don’t want to hear about it, they do nothing!
RCMP members are not permitted to discuss anything within the force when conflict is involved…which makes it very surprising that the issue with the top cop has come out??? Strategic move maybe???
The RCMP do not recognize experienced members have and chose to promote people who to w the company line…if you are prone to speaking up, well good luck with that!
So the next time you hear of some mountie doing some bloody stupid thing, stop and ask yourselves, of that one member, how many others finished their shifts, doing the right thing and not disgracing the RCMP.
Kuddoos to those who will never make a nbews report, guess it doesn’t make for good press now does it!
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“I hope I don’t have to go back 130 years but I’m talking about a time when RIGHT was right and WRONG was wrong and we knew the difference.”
Ah yes, you reference the 50’s with Zorro and Roy Rogers. Lets see, the 50’s when we knew right from wrong better than today? Hmmm, Pat Brady had a drinking problem, McCarthyism, segregation, Rosa parks, testing civil servants for homosexuality, bomarc missile debacle, $64,000 dollar question quiz show was rigged, natives are not allowed in certain establishments and couldn’t vote until they gave up treaty rights (until 1960). But you do remember, Roy Rogers and Zorro. Selective lenses by age or media bombardment. Get the picture?
Your naivete as a child should have dwindled as you grew up. Because the information age bombards you with negativity which sells better than nice little feel good stories, you actually have to use the old noggin and even research issues to sort out the wheat from the chaff so to speak. Imagine if you were constantly given a morning news diet of the hundreds of charitable fund raising activities of the RCMP, along with their sponsoring of needy families, social work with Native youth, saving the drowning dog, buying presents for downtrodden families at Christmas, returning lost/stolen bike to kids, building skateboard parks, holding volleyball/basketball/hockey/lacrosse games to interact with youth, raising funds for Haiti (and serving there), being honored by First Nations for hard work in the community, holding education forums on drugs and teens, volunteering in remote communities so incumbent officers can have holidays, suicide prevention workshops for natives, awarding scholarships, teaching bicycle safety, staff school liaison posts, coaching sports teams, and of course lets not forget they actually put some bad guys in jail in simple investigations or multi million dollar projects every day, along with 3 million calls for service. Examine how your perceptions would be altered with a balanced reporting from the news media.
You keep referencing obliquely or otherwise the YVR 4 in terms of nothing will happen to them. Well, the process is long and tedious as we society have made it, however, in the end one can hope that someone will at least lose their employment. Was the Braidwood inquiry not well done? The new look at criminal charges may produce some of the retribution you are seeking.
But be prepared for the results given the propensity of the legal system to not be black and white as in your Roy Rogers (real name Leonard Franklin Slye ) or Zorro (Armand Joseph Catalano ) movies. What if the Crown decides that there are no charges to be laid? Or if only the one person in control is charged? Are you going to disparage the Crown or are you going to be able to research and understand the reasoning either way?
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I hope I don’t have to go back 130 years but I’m talking about a time when RIGHT was right and WRONG was wrong and we knew the difference.
When we were younger we most certainly all had a chance to watched the Roy Rogers movies, the series with Zorro, the John Wayne and the Lone Ranger and all cheered when the good guy won over the bad ones but what happen lately is we are cheering for the bad guys in movies and in video games we have polluted our children’s minds with filth and so we have entered into an era where morals have been replaced by image, manipulations, lying, bullying and our ratings, actions and money are more important than sacrifice, justice and doing what is right.
Our government’s job is to monitor the public and protect them but money seems to be the essence of their interest and not the destruction of our society. Some are tax exempt while the others can’t write off a pair of shoes to go to work with.
Watching the RCMP at work today is kind of like watching a bad movie where Roy Rogers or Zorro has turned from caring for the public and justice to crime and the killing of the innocent.
If that isn’t bad enough, when they get caught, why should they insult our intelligence by lying and wasting our money? And why should they expect an investigator to get them out of their mess? That just tarnishes the force even more. I agree no one is perfect not even Stephen Harper but give me a break. If they are caught why should we all entertain their stupidity?
Even tazer international wants us to believe their stun guns don’t kill people just because it affects the bottom dollar. When it comes to judgments the judges are expected to through the book at criminals but when there’s money involved and police they are expected to let them go with a good report.
If the Criminal Code of Canada says someone broke the law then it should apply to all the same way and there should be no double standards allowed.
Lets be fair.
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One of the reasons is the one sided and continual bashing by the media because it sells. If you expect any organization of over 20,000 employees to never have any issues, you are dreaming. What you can and should expect is the application of due process to any individual caught in any nefarious deeds. That it happens, is life, that it takes a long time to resolve, is the legal system and labor laws that have evolved this far.
The day to day activities of the RCMP in detecting crime and apprehending criminals continues unabated, with only the highest profile successful cases being afforded coverage out of the 3 million plus calls for service. On the other hand any small misbehavior is treated with front page attention. Even officers long retired are referred to as “former RCMP officer”……
You do touch on but don’t acknowledge one of the main reasons for the issues that have surfaced that are of major concern. It is high time the government be removed from interference with the RCMP.
On the one hand you complain of the culture, secrecy, intransigence of the RCMP, then point to the complaint of the top brass as an example of some sort of failure when it is actually the way management is supposed to work in the modern environment. You cannot have it both ways. And that shows that the brainwashing of the media is working and the negative stereotyping is working. They achieve epic fail with their one sided reporting which is in contravention of their own ethics. do not believe every opinion article because that is what passes for most “new” these days is opinion.
It is also interesting to note the ready reference to the “iconic” Force, how great the past was, ad naseum. There remains in the collective conscious some idealistic view of the past. I would ask just what era do they wax so poetically about from time to time? Give me decade or an age to work with. Was there a time of no persons with alcohol problems? Was there not time when the RCMP fell to any vice? Was it the time when homosexuals were not allowed in the Force? Was it when there were no women allowed? Perhaps when persons of color were all but denied (check with Calvin on that)? Perhaps in the militaristic 50’s of rigid rank, discipline and command? Was it the time of the internal witch hunt for the “mole” when the RCMP still was the intelligence service of the country? Maybe during the time when RCMP training encouraged “inter troop discipline” such as horse troughing, pillow casing etc? Perhaps the famous march west where of course there was absolutely no debauchery or excessive liquor consumption and certainly no cattle thieves given the old backhand when they got mouthy.
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Why, has been on the minds and lips of many Canadians for far to long now.
When I go out for a morning coffee, I can’t but listen and hear people talking around my table about the RCMP in horror and in disbelief about the scandalous reports coming out on this force.
The report is not good and something must be done.
Appointing former CSIS director, Reid Morton who ordered information destroyed is what has become of all of this and what we are talking about here.
After the behavior, criminal charges, retirements and the resignation of the former Commissioner of the RCMP in disgrace we are now hearing of fighting within the ranks and files at the top level.
So what has happened to the promise that Commissioner Elliot would fix this mess?
Is this new appointment, once again telling us that the elevated prestige top ranks of the RCMP, that make up part of our Canadian justice system, are way out there beyond repair?
So tell me after reading some of these articles; why is it time and time again we are told to trust and have confidence in them?
I sure don’t right now.
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