Last week, embattled RCMP commissioner William Elliott announced the creation of regional commands for the Mounties. The new structure, modelled in part on that of the Canadian Forces, would see local RCMP detachments reporting principally to empowered regional commanders, rather than directly to Ottawa. If successful, the change will be an important step in the right direction. However, this and other reform efforts will do too little to address the challenges facing the Mounties. Allegations of misconduct within the force are rampant as are reports of discord and dispute between RCMP veterans and their civilian bosses, including Elliott.
The notoriously hard-headed culture of the RCMP is partly to blame, as is its increasingly anachronistic structure. Reviews of the RCMP’s problems, whether external or internal, tend to focus too much on culture and far too little on structure. To be sure, the RCMP’s culture, which is said to be suspicious of civilian control and wary of the insensitivity of Ottawa-based commanders to the realities of day-to-day policing, is a crucial factor. However, ascribing the problems entirely to culture makes it too easy for RCMP leadership and politicians to avoid considering and implementing substantial reforms.
The solutions proposed for structural problems, such as commissioner Elliott’s announcement of new regional commands, are often too weak or poorly implemented. Those changes proposed by internal reviews tend to be insubstantial not because of a lack of interest in major reforms, but because reviewers are aware of the increasingly distrustful relationship of senior RCMP commanders and the force’s civilian leadership. Unfortunately, this cautious approach does little to prevent the relationship from worsening. External reviewers are aware of this problem, but are too deferential to the RCMP’s civilian leadership, which in turn is in a relatively weak position to implement reforms.
Not only are proposed structural solutions too weak, but they tend to downplay the principal challenge facing the RCMP: the breadth of its responsibilities. As Canada’s federal police force, the Mounties are responsible for investigating federal crimes, such as counterfeiting and smuggling. They also have a special responsibility for national security, particularly counterterrorism, which has been substantially expanded since the September 11 attacks. In much of Canada, the RCMP is also contracted by provincial governments to deliver local policing. Many other countries, such as France and Italy, have national police forces with local responsibilities, but nowhere does a single national police force have such broad responsibilities.
The breadth of the RCMP’s responsibilities is problematic because it not only hampers the ability of the leadership to exercise control over the RCMP’s diverse operations, but also keeps its complaints commission from effectively being able to investigate allegations of misconduct. Current reform proposals would see the complaints commission strengthened and a greater emphasis placed on regional control over local policing, but this would do little to address the problematic aspects of the RCMP’s federal policing, and especially its national security-related activities. Given the RCMP’s culture and structure, a more balanced reform that would address all of the RCMP’s responsibilities is unlikely to be effective.
Instead, the government should move to break up the RCMP. Ideally, the government would shrink the existing RCMP and reorganize it along the lines of the Australian Federal Police. It would then negotiate with the provinces for whom it currently delivers local policing to transfer a portion of the RCMP’s resources in those provinces to new provincial police forces, starting with Alberta and British Columbia. The federal government should continue policing in the territories and smaller provinces in the medium term, though they should examine opportunities for shared regional policing.
Unfortunately, such a reform would likely be too radical to be palatable to politicians and RCMP leadership alike. A more likely solution would be to create provincial police forces in Alberta and British Columbia, which are wealthy enough to afford the transition costs. The government should also split the RCMP into two federal police forces, one with the responsibility for federal policing and national security and another for local policing in the provinces without their own forces and in the territories. Both federal forces would need clearer rules and better oversight to avoid as many of the problems which plague the current version of the RCMP as possible.
Neither solution would solve all of the RCMP’s problems, but both would help address the confusion of responsibilities. This would help RCMP leadership exercise better command and control and facilitate effective oversight and review of the RCMP’s operations, especially in the area of national security. Unfortunately, creating new provincial police forces, even in only two provinces, would require more and better interagency and intergovernmental coordination, which would be hard to establish and even harder to maintain. Despite this potential problem, the status quo is untenable and change is necessary if the RCMP is to avoid further scandal and shame.
