Zaccardelli slams police resources

Toronto, ON (National Post) – The former commissioner of the RCMP has lashed out at his old bosses, blaming a lack of government leadership for what he says is a growing gap between the demands on police and the resources allotted to them.

Giuliano Zaccardelli, who resigned as top Mountie a year ago, told the Senate National Security Committee that police budgets are not keeping pace with the increasing challenges posed by crime, terror-ism and organized criminality.

He testified that Canada has 195 police officers for every 100,000 citizens, which he said is the lowest ratio among the world’s top 25 developed countries. While governments were cutting police budgets, “crime did not take a cut,” he added.

New legislation has meant more paperwork for police, he said, citing a study that claimed it takes officers 58% longer to process a break-and-enter case than it did a decade ago, and 250% longer for an impaired-driving charge.

“No corresponding budget increases were given to the police every time a court decision or a new piece of legislation increased the processing time. All that took place in a policing environment of more public oversight, more media scrutiny and more expectations for an accountability bar set higher than any other profession,” he said.

Mr. Zaccardelli resigned after admitting he had given incorrect testimony to a parliamentary committee examining Canada’s role in the torture of Maher Arar by Syria. A special investigator appointed to examine the RCMP’s troubles was later critical of the commissioner’s leadership style.

The career police officer said he was testifying only as an individual with a passion for public safety. The Senate committee called the hearing to examine Canada’s emergency preparedness. Mr. Zaccardelli testified in Ottawa on Monday but a transcript of his comments was only released yesterday.

Since coming to office two years ago, the Conservatives have been trying to position themselves as a law-and-order government. Melisa Leclerc, spokeswoman for Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, said yesterday the government was committed to ensuring the RCMP was effective and accountable.

She said the Conservatives had invested $37-million toward the expansion of the RCMP training depot in Regina and were hiring an additional 1,000 RCMP personnel. Yesterday’s budget also committed $400-million for the hiring of 2,500 more police officers across the country, she said.

But Mr. Zaccardelli said Canadian policing was approaching “a crisis point, and we may already be there in certain parts of the country.”

“On organized crime and terrorism, for example, the RCMP is seriously deficient when it comes to terrorism. Two years ago, when I came here, I said we can only deal

with about 30% of all the organized crime groups that we know. I am afraid it is probably getting worse,” he said.

“We are talking about huge gaps that have to be overcome. The gap will not be closed by small incremental increases. There has to be serious recognition of the problem.”

The problems are particularly bad at the borders, he said. “Especially since 9/11, in my view, we have not responded in the way we need to when you talk about the border weakness in this country,” he said. “We have had miniscule resources in the past. When you look at the potential threat we face, it is simply not enough and we have to get serious about that.”