Robert Stewart (Opinion, Special to the Vancouver Sun) – Hardly a day goes by when we don’t hear of some RCMP misadventure: resignations and disputes in the top ranks, serious recruitment problems, misdeeds at the detachment and operational levels, and routine castigations by federal and provincial commissions of inquiry.
This is not just a run of bad luck. The disastrous mismanagement and controversy has been going on for at least 10 years. About two years of turmoil, name-calling and bizarre events preceded the resignation of RCMP commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli in 2006, since replaced by unpopular civilian William Elliott.
My heart, in fact, goes out to the dutiful rank-and-file members who are subject to the basic flaws in that organization.
The timing for British Columbia is crucial. We are in the process of negotiating a new 20-year contract for RCMP services, including the many municipal detachments. No matter how thoughtful the criticisms of experts in criminology and commissions of inquiry, or how ugly the day-to-day RCMP news, the B.C. government seems to snap back, like Pavlov’s dog, to the position that the status quo is working well. This might partly be explained by the fact that all of the civil servants in the solicitor-general’s office who have a police background are former RCMP members.
Negotiations between Victoria and the RCMP have evaded the public eye for long enough. In fact, the Union of British Columbia Municipalities has issued a paper outlining the concerns of the contracted municipalities. It seems the mayors primarily want some relief from policing costs, and they expect the federal government to sweeten the pot. Surely the quality and efficiency of a police service is about more than just money? Yet, when all other arguments fail, the RCMP defenders point out that Ottawa subsidizes the large municipal contracts in B.C. by 10 per cent.
Rumour has it the mayors are now after a 30-per-cent federal subsidy for their RCMP costs, with no apparent consideration for the cities and towns that have municipal forces.
It is my view that no RCMP municipal contract in B.C. could stand up to an audit. If 200 personnel are supposed to be in a detachment, how many are actually on duty or available for duty? How many positions remain unfilled? How many members are ill? How many on maternity leave? How many of them are off on courses to improve their promotion prospects, including French-language immersion, of little use in B.C.? How many are assigned to integrated units with other forces?
There are many other issues:
Why are we exporting jobs to a national force? The vast majority of RCMP officers in B.C. come from elsewhere in Canada, part of a national mandate that includes bilingualism quotas. But with provincial police serving Quebec and Ontario, more than 30 per cent of all RCMP jobs are in B.C.
If the RCMP is going to be effective in the vital areas of federal law governing terrorism, drugs, money laundering, smuggling, Internet fraud and a vast list of other global challenges, the force needs much more focus on these substantial matters and a lot less time spent cruising around neighbourhoods.
Training at the Justice Institute of B.C. followed by on-the-job training municipal police forces receive has no equal anywhere, and certainly not within the RCMP, whose recruits are trained and conditioned as part of our national identity. Local knowledge is vital in local police work; a constantly changing cast of characters is counterproductive.
Some people advocate a provincial police force for B.C. That is not necessary. We should focus on large regional forces for high-population areas (Lower Mainland, Greater Victoria and the Okanagan) and leave the RCMP the responsibilities they have effectively managed since the earliest days of their distinguished history — the remote areas of the country.
Robert Stewart was a Vancouver police officer for 37 years and chief constable from 1981 until 1991.
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