RCMP staffing shortages put public safety at risk
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Summary
Since its inception in 1873, the RCMP has tried to be all things to all people. It provides contract frontline policing in 8 provinces and 3 territories, but more than that it is also responsible for national security, investigating organized crime, drug enforcement, money laundering, and criminal intelligence. The staffing shortages are affecting all of those areas of the national police force, and it s a significant problem.
Transcript
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In a recent column I discussed staffing shortages in the RCMP and how that is
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affecting frontline policing in our communities. Frontline policing is not
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the only problem. The RCMP since its inception in 1873 has tried to be all
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things to all people. It provides contract frontline policing in eight
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provinces and three territories, but more than that is also responsible for
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national security, investigating organized crime, drug enforcement, money
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laundering, and criminal intelligence. The staffing shortages are affecting all of
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those sections of the national police force. It's a significant problem. In 2015
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the Charbonneau Commission in Quebec found there was a significant link between
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organized crime, politicians, and the letting of public contracts. And then just
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last year retired RCMP Deputy Commissioner Peter German tabled a report on money
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laundering in BC where he identified a significant amount of money was going
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through the casinos and then in a subsequent report going through real
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estate. The problem seems to be in the billions of dollars. And yet his report
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also identified there was nobody in the RCMP who was investigating money laundering.
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Truth be told, there's also no one in BC that I can tell is investigating Asian
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organized crime. It seems they only have a few folks that are involved in intel
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gathering on Asian organized crime and that's about it. There's a problem. The
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CFSEU, which is the section responsible for investigating organized crime, seems to be
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focused entirely on outlaw motorcycle gangs and street gangs. And that's all the
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resources they have. The staffing shortages are hurting them as well. In my
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opinion the RCMP needs a fundamental rethink. This is the 21st century with
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21st century problems. This is brought on by the internet and digital technology
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and things like Bitcoin and how organized crime groups can send money around the
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world. And yet in Canada we have no wire transfer laws or mail fraud laws like they
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do in the United States. We need to rethink how we are approaching things like
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national security and organized crime. The RCMP as an organization is resistant to
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change. I have a long referred to as 144 years of tradition unhampered by progress.
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Well that's tongue-in-cheek but there's a lot of truth in that statement. It is my
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opinion that the RCMP needs to get out of contract policing and focus on its
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federal responsibilities. It also needs to build subject matter experts in those
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fields. Currently members transfer in and out of federal sections and detachments
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for promotions and career enhancement and the like. And there's also part of a
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problem that they don't have subject matter experts because of these
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transfers. If somebody is in an Asian organized crime section as an example or
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in a money laundering section because of the technicalities involved in those
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things, once they develop expertise they should be developed as
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individuals and then and then made subject matter experts not transferred to
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uniform policing and somewhere in northern Alberta. In my view it's way past
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time to look at how our national police force functions and the government really
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needs to take a lead role in this. They need to define how policing services
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should be delivered to Canadians. After all it is their primary responsibility is the
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protection of the public. For True North, I'm Leo Knight.