Fierce debates are taking place across Canada over whether the RCMP can be counted on to protect public safety in our towns, indigenous communities and even some provinces. Yet stubborn resistance to pursuing a safer and more accountable path—local and provincial police forces—persists..Crime is rising, especially in rural areas and small towns. Statistics Canada’s crime severity index was 33 per cent higher in rural areas than urban ones in 2021. A series of disastrous failures, public scandals and instances of bureaucratic paralysis have shown beyond doubt that the once-legendary Royal Canadian Mounted Police can no longer provide the kind of proactive community policing we need to fight rapidly evolving and complex criminal activity..Canadians deserve more responsive and accountable policing, whether they live in cities or remote rural communities where some landowners, frustrated with slow RCMP response times, post signs saying, “We don’t call 9-1-1.”.At the same time, the RCMP struggles to devote enough resources to the other part of its mandate, the priorities a national police force should be focusing on: fighting organized crime, white-collar crime, cybercrime, human trafficking, drug smuggling, anti-terrorism and other threats to national security, as well as protecting federal facilities and leaders..How can the RCMP fulfill these vital responsibilities when fully 65 per cent of its resources are devoted to community and provincial policing? It’s like asking a physician to run a walk-in clinic and perform heart surgery at the same time..This is not to fault the dedicated sworn officers and civilian staff who give their best to fulfill the impossible dual mandate they have inherited. Yet even their devotion has failed to short-circuit tragedies that a better-equipped and better-led police force might have been able to prevent..The 2020 shooting rampage in Nova Scotia that left 21 citizens and one RCMP officer dead is just the most recent example. A scathing report from the Mass Casualty Commission, released March 30, upbraided the force for its blundering response and hours-long delays in public alerts that almost certainly added to the body count..The RCMP’s failure in Nova Scotia echoes the circumstances in the northern Alberta town of Mayerthorpe in 2005, in which four Mounties were gunned down by a single armed man who was well-known to police. The judge who conducted an inquiry into the deaths found the officers were “heavily outgunned” — they had just three handguns and no rifles among them — and the local detachment had just one rifle on hand..Replacing the RCMP with locally run police forces answerable to local citizens could well be the better path. The northern Alberta town of Grande Prairie recently made that choice after years of study and public dissatisfaction with the RCMP. One councillor said proposed crime reduction initiatives were often delayed by the Mounties because “they are not aligned with existing RCMP policy or directives” set in Ottawa..Many provinces that don’t already have their own forces — which is every one but Ontario and Quebec — are considering the same path Grande Prairie is taking. Nova Scotia ordered a review of policing models in the wake of the mass shooting there, New Brunswick’s minister of public safety has urged a “hard look” at establishing a provincial police force, and an all-party committee in British Columbia has recommended the same course of action..In Alberta, former premier Jason Kenney’s Fair Deal Panel recommended the creation of a provincial police force in a May 2020 report. It argued that policing could be improved by pooling resources and focusing on high-crime areas, and the force could operate “without waiting for prior approval from Ottawa every time a new initiative is needed to tackle crime.” But with a provincial election coming in May, the initiative is on hold..Jurisdictions that contract policing out to the Mounties often worry that locally run forces will cost more than the RCMP, which is subsidized up to 30 per cent by the feds. Yet those same communities have been hit hard by retroactive pay increases recently granted to RCMP officers and staff and face the threat that federal subsidies will someday end..Defenders of the status quo often retain a sentimental attachment to the RCMP. There was a day when the Red Serge was the pride of Canada, and even Hollywood declared, “The Mounties always get their man.” Sadly, those days are long past..Even the federal government seems to want out of community policing. MPs on the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security recommended in 2021 that the federal government “explore the possibility of ending contract policing.” And Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino was tasked in 2021 with assessing RCMP contract policing, in consultation with the provinces and municipalities..Placing community policing in local hands will help towns and provinces cut one of the apron strings that tie us to the misguided apparatchiks in Ottawa. Most importantly, though, it promises to make our communities safer through proactive policing that just might stop more crimes before they can happen..Doug Firby is an award-winning editorial writer in Calgary. The original essay-length version of this article recently appeared in the C2C Journal.
Fierce debates are taking place across Canada over whether the RCMP can be counted on to protect public safety in our towns, indigenous communities and even some provinces. Yet stubborn resistance to pursuing a safer and more accountable path—local and provincial police forces—persists..Crime is rising, especially in rural areas and small towns. Statistics Canada’s crime severity index was 33 per cent higher in rural areas than urban ones in 2021. A series of disastrous failures, public scandals and instances of bureaucratic paralysis have shown beyond doubt that the once-legendary Royal Canadian Mounted Police can no longer provide the kind of proactive community policing we need to fight rapidly evolving and complex criminal activity..Canadians deserve more responsive and accountable policing, whether they live in cities or remote rural communities where some landowners, frustrated with slow RCMP response times, post signs saying, “We don’t call 9-1-1.”.At the same time, the RCMP struggles to devote enough resources to the other part of its mandate, the priorities a national police force should be focusing on: fighting organized crime, white-collar crime, cybercrime, human trafficking, drug smuggling, anti-terrorism and other threats to national security, as well as protecting federal facilities and leaders..How can the RCMP fulfill these vital responsibilities when fully 65 per cent of its resources are devoted to community and provincial policing? It’s like asking a physician to run a walk-in clinic and perform heart surgery at the same time..This is not to fault the dedicated sworn officers and civilian staff who give their best to fulfill the impossible dual mandate they have inherited. Yet even their devotion has failed to short-circuit tragedies that a better-equipped and better-led police force might have been able to prevent..The 2020 shooting rampage in Nova Scotia that left 21 citizens and one RCMP officer dead is just the most recent example. A scathing report from the Mass Casualty Commission, released March 30, upbraided the force for its blundering response and hours-long delays in public alerts that almost certainly added to the body count..The RCMP’s failure in Nova Scotia echoes the circumstances in the northern Alberta town of Mayerthorpe in 2005, in which four Mounties were gunned down by a single armed man who was well-known to police. The judge who conducted an inquiry into the deaths found the officers were “heavily outgunned” — they had just three handguns and no rifles among them — and the local detachment had just one rifle on hand..Replacing the RCMP with locally run police forces answerable to local citizens could well be the better path. The northern Alberta town of Grande Prairie recently made that choice after years of study and public dissatisfaction with the RCMP. One councillor said proposed crime reduction initiatives were often delayed by the Mounties because “they are not aligned with existing RCMP policy or directives” set in Ottawa..Many provinces that don’t already have their own forces — which is every one but Ontario and Quebec — are considering the same path Grande Prairie is taking. Nova Scotia ordered a review of policing models in the wake of the mass shooting there, New Brunswick’s minister of public safety has urged a “hard look” at establishing a provincial police force, and an all-party committee in British Columbia has recommended the same course of action..In Alberta, former premier Jason Kenney’s Fair Deal Panel recommended the creation of a provincial police force in a May 2020 report. It argued that policing could be improved by pooling resources and focusing on high-crime areas, and the force could operate “without waiting for prior approval from Ottawa every time a new initiative is needed to tackle crime.” But with a provincial election coming in May, the initiative is on hold..Jurisdictions that contract policing out to the Mounties often worry that locally run forces will cost more than the RCMP, which is subsidized up to 30 per cent by the feds. Yet those same communities have been hit hard by retroactive pay increases recently granted to RCMP officers and staff and face the threat that federal subsidies will someday end..Defenders of the status quo often retain a sentimental attachment to the RCMP. There was a day when the Red Serge was the pride of Canada, and even Hollywood declared, “The Mounties always get their man.” Sadly, those days are long past..Even the federal government seems to want out of community policing. MPs on the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security recommended in 2021 that the federal government “explore the possibility of ending contract policing.” And Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino was tasked in 2021 with assessing RCMP contract policing, in consultation with the provinces and municipalities..Placing community policing in local hands will help towns and provinces cut one of the apron strings that tie us to the misguided apparatchiks in Ottawa. Most importantly, though, it promises to make our communities safer through proactive policing that just might stop more crimes before they can happen..Doug Firby is an award-winning editorial writer in Calgary. The original essay-length version of this article recently appeared in the C2C Journal.
