(CBC News) - The RCMP say it’s not possible for two officers to respond to every call received in the North, even if there was enough money to pay for them.
Sgt. Larry O’Brien of the Yellowknife RCMP says as baby boomers retire, there just aren’t enough veteran personnel to go around.
He told CBC News he remembers applying more than a decade ago to be posted in the North — where there are higher wages and better chances of promotion — and being placed on a waiting list.
O’Brien said these days, many members who graduate from the RCMP depot are immediately posted to isolated northern detachments. The senior officer said the recruits may be inexperienced, but they are better trained than ever before.
Appeals to change solo responses
Last week, the widow of Const. Christopher Worden urged the RCMP to change its policies so no member ever attends calls alone.
Jodie Worden also criticized the North’s police force as too young, with new recruits getting on-the-job training from officers who themselves have only a few years’ experience.
Worden, 30, was shot and killed on Oct. 6 in Hay River, N.W.T., after responding alone to a call at a suspected drug house in the small community.
One month later on Nov. 5, Const. Douglas Scott, 20, was killed while answering a drunk-driving complaint alone in Kimmirut, Nunavut. He had not yet finished his five months of field training when he was shot.
New policy slated to be released next month
For the last two years, B.C. RCMP Sgt. Mike Ingles has been working on a policy that would require officers to bring at least one other member with them when responding to dangerous or uncertain situations including domestic disputes, suicide calls and incidents involving weapons.
“I personally in my heart believe that having proper backup at those calls would have led to those members, if not being alive, certainly having a greater chance of being alive,” Ingles said.
The proposed policy could be approved as early as next month.
5 responses so far ↓
1 speaking my mind // Nov 13, 2007 at 10:33
Hmmm, I didn’t think the force was going to take any real responsibility for this one. Another good attempt on trying to circle the wagons. This time people are smarter than that.
If memory serves me correct, there was an entire decade the RCMP would not accept an application from a white male. In a push to make the force more politically correct, they pushed females to the front of the line who had a high rate of attrition in the field. Today part of the problem is that Depot is trying to push through all kinds of females and in some troops the washout rate is as high as 50%. Within thirty seconds one can tell that many of these people are not cut out for the job, but they did well on “paper”. No wonder they don’t have enough trained people to go around.
For years the RCMP has NOT been hiring the right people, and has been instilling the wrong values. The force is trying to blame it on having a young organization, however THERE WAS NOT ENOUGH VETERANS TO GO AROUND BETWEEN 1973-1976, but rookies were not getting killed in anywhere close to today’s numbers- and without the federal gun registry or bullet proof vests.
The RCMP has to revamp the way it training but the problem is so many cadets have gone through this messed up armed social worker community college that it would be like closing the barn door after the horse escaped.
2 billy // Nov 14, 2007 at 00:21
I agree. However, the Force still has to continue so they had better realize that major changes need be made. The world is not all sweetness and light. Police work can and often is a dirty job. When you look at the rah rah to hire, where is the reality? Long a go applicants were asked if they were prepared to see carnage on the roadway and be able to do their duty. They were told they could end up in some remote Northern spot or large metro detachment. Nobody knew where in Canada they would be sent. But they were told what to expect. Maybe they should re-mandate to do what they are supposed to, that is enforce the law. Its nice to raise money for the community and all that but that was always done on your own time. You cannot be all things to all people. Sometimes people just have to be subdued and jailed. Sometimes your hands are going to get dirty. Sometimes you will have to see evil things most people cannot even comprehend. I do not want Miss Congeniality investigating a violent crime against one of my family.
It makes you wonder how all this can be going on and not be seen by anyone in authority. Or are they willfully blind?
A wash out rate of 50% is unbelievable. Combine that with the over 70% of applications declined, and what pray tell, does that show you?
3 Calvin Lawrence // Nov 14, 2007 at 00:44
Mr. “Speaking my mind” would have you believe that non-white cadets were hired at greater rate than white persons. The hiring of black members goes back from 1947 to 1961 offically. And unofficially after that. Documentation upon your request will prove my statement.
I will send me you my mailing address if you require documentation. buzz107@hotmail.com insrtuctor/facilitator in Regina Sask Depot from 1997 until 2001.
There has never been a troop of cadets with more females and non white males than white males at the time I was an instructor.
Calvin Lawrence CPl.Retired) 28Years
4 speaking my mind // Nov 14, 2007 at 12:03
Mr. Lawrence,
You are no doubt correct that there has never been a troop of women and minorities that had more cadets than white males. Which reminds me of a few things….
The nonsense at it’s height which I describe was at it’s worst in the earlier part of the 1990’s. Back then white males were probably hired not on their policing abilities but because of their ability to speak French. I forgot about all the official languages act crap of the 90’s- thanks for the reminder. Although some may they have blond hair and blue eyes, I am sure quite a few were hired because of the race their great grandfather was, and not what they were brought up in. I know of one such individual that could pass as Scandinavian was playing the native card in the force to get posted to a certain province. They wanted the preferential treatment, but told staffing they did not “want to go to a reserve”.
I guess in my previous post I have overstated my case. However, my point is this politically correct nonsense has gone too far over the years and it is time for a more back to basics approach. I agree with Billy that it is time for people at the top to get with reality.
Yes, Billy that is correct the washout rate of females in Depot is extremely high. Not all troops have as high of a washout rate as 50%, but it is scary how many people they try and put through when you know they don’t have a chance. Why? In the physical side of things some women would show up and couldn’t pass the pare test their first day of training and get bounced. Physically more of them get injured. Firearms seems to trip up a lot of them. Driving snags a few and so does failing some of these scenario’s that Bob Smart seems to be so proud of. When you throw in some failures in academics it adds up to a “Gong Show”.
It takes a well balanced person to get through that program, and they are trying to hire people that don’t have the aptitude for it. It is literally like trying to pound a square peg into a round hole.
Apart from this, things like honor and real values (other than modern politically correct ones and subscribing to reality control) are not instilled in new members. Cadets cheating on their husbands and wives (most times with other cadets) is rampant. There seems to be an affair in every troop, and it doesn’t seem to matter if they have kids or not. This goes on at Q block- the Quality inn in downtown Regina which rents discounted rooms to cadets for around $50 per night. I guess this sets the course for some of the wife swapping that has been known to go on in many detachments.
Yes, Billy this is the “good stuff” the organization likes to deny exists when they start hiding behind the red serge.
5 speaking_my_mind // Nov 24, 2007 at 19:23
Mr. Lawrence, Here is an article I found from 1995 that stated that 74% of cadets in Regina were non white male.
http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/breitkreuzgpress/equity1.htm
Certainly doesn’t sound as if there were very many white male dominated troops back then does there?
So yes, Mr. “Speaking my mind” would have you believe that non-white cadets were hired at greater rate than white persons.
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