RCMP Watch

(Amherst Daily News, Editorial) - It really comes as no surprise that editors across Canada have named the RCMP as 2007’s Newsmaker of the Year considering how much the law enforcement agency has been in the news for all the wrong reasons over the last 12 months.

From Tasers to terrorism, from pensions to the perils of solitary policing, it has been a rough year for the police force with much of the news questioning how Canadians view the 134-year-old agency.

Founded in 1873 as the North-West Mounted Police to bring law and order to what would become Saskatchewan and Alberta, the RCMP have fostered a culture of respect and a feeling of pride among Canadians and the Red Serge has become entrenched as part of our national identity.

That image has been tarnished of late, though, and these are indeed tough times for the RCMP. However, as much as the confidence Canadians have in the RCMP has been shaken by almost non-stop controversy, its members remain respected for the work they do in communities from one end of this country to the other.

Locally, Cumberland County is fortunate to have a professional policing service with detachments in Amherst, Pugwash, Parrsboro and Oxford.

While the RCMP nationally faces a long road before it can undo some of the damage of the last year, it is taking steps under new civilian commissioner William Elliott to change the way it does business. It’s not going to be an easy task, but that should not be allowed to overshadow what is still a shining example of policing.