After a year of scandal and controversy, Canada's national police force is faced with the prospect of a major shake-up before 2008 is out.
Probably the greatest shock to the national psyche in 2007 occurred when news broke of shenanigans at the highest levels of the RCMP, one of Canada's most esteemed institutions.
Canadians were stunned when allegations of fraud, a cover-up and abuse of authority involving the misuse of the force's pension and insurance plans were revealed by police officers at a Parliamentary committee hearing last March.
This came just months after Police Commissioner Giuliani Zaccardelli resigned in disgrace after admitting that he misled another committee on the inquiry into the Maher Arar case.
As the year wore on, the death of a disturbed but unarmed man at the Vancouver airport after being tasered twice by RCMP officers and the Mounties' poor showing in the Air India inquiry only added to the appearance of a force in disarray.
In the wake of the pension scandal, David Brown, former head of the Ontario Securities Commission, released a scathing report concluding that the corporate culture of the RCMP was plagued with problems and "horribly broken."
Brown subsequently headed a task force charged with crafting a plan to reform the culture and governance of the RCMP. That report was released in December.
New RCMP Commissioner William Elliott, a civilian, has said the report marks "an important turning point" and will serve as "one of the key drivers of change going forward."
"One thing is very clear, and that is that in 2008, the RCMP are going to undergo some change," says Robert Gordon, a professor of criminology and the director of the School of Criminology at Vancouver's Simon Fraser University.
"One would hope that it will be profound enough to restore public confidence in the system."
Some changes have already been made since Elliott took over, and more are expected soon in the senior leadership of the force.
Gordon says there's "a great deal of hope" that Elliott will be able to address concerns at both the organizational and operational levels of the RCMP "because that's where the problems lie."
However, whether he'll receive the full support of field personnel and management remains to be seen.
"Trying to effect reform in a police organization is a bit like trying to bend granite," says Gordon. "The RCMP are going to be particularly resistant to change that's not consistent with their self image or their perceived goals and interests. It's going to be a tough time for the RCMP and for the new commissioner."
In interviews with more than 2,000 RCMP members across the country, Brown's task force heard about understaffing, inefficient management, equipment shortages, low morale, and overwork and fatigue among members.
While members professed fierce pride in the RCMP and struggled to do their best in less than ideal circumstances, the task force witnessed "despair, disillusionment and anger within an organization that is failing them," wrote Brown. Brown recommended sweeping changes — 49 in all — including giving the force more independence from Ottawa and establishing an independent civilian board to oversee the RCMP.
The Mounties currently act as the police force in many aboriginal communities and in all provinces except Quebec, Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador. While larger cities usually have their own regional police forces, about 200 municipalities across Canada contract the services of the RCMP.
Gordon says there's a case to be made —"and this may well be something that's sitting on Bill Elliott's desk" — for the RCMP to withdraw from contract policing at the provincial and municipal levels altogether and focus only on federal policing and policing of the territories.
This way, the force could concentrate its energies on "more traditional RCMP policing" such as organized crime, terrorism and anti-terrorist activities, dignitary protection and forensic services.
Apart from the territories which have a smaller tax base, provinces and municipalities could sustain their own police forces, Gordon says. This would lighten the workload of the RCMP which skyrocketed after 9/11, and address the problem of personnel depletion in the north.
"The current system of balkanized policing based on municipalities is breaking down," says Gordon. "It's time for the RCMP to be out of policing at the municipal level in this province."
Gordon adds that Vancouver and Victoria are the last large metropolitan areas in Canada to not have a single police service responsible for policing.
A report on the RCMP by Carleton University professor Linda Duxbury, which was studied by Brown's task force, showed a large disconnect between how rank and file members view the force compared to those in the higher ranks, according to an Ottawa Citizen article.
Senior management are happy in their jobs and the way their performance is measured, feel the RCMP is a great place to work and believe staff is deployed effectively.
Those below the rank of inspector, however, which accounts for most of the force, said they feel betrayed by senior managers and don't trust or respect them. They believe staff is poorly deployed and complain of little training, too many priorities and poor performers who aren't dealt with.
"That is in part due to the tyranny of distance," says Gordon. "The RCMP field personnel are in the western provinces en masse. B.C. is one of the largest consumers of RCMP officers under contract; we are a long way from Ottawa."
Critics say a complete overhaul of the RCMP is long overdue, and that some of the problems now coming to light have been endemic in the force for decades.
Scandals in the 1960s and 70s led to an inquiry which found that the RCMP was suffering from a lack of civilian control. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service was subsequently created, but some say the force continued to perform like a secret service with problems of accountability and transparency remaining unaddressed.
It is unknown yet which of the task force's recommendations will be implemented, but Elliott has said that he wants whistleblowers in the force protected, punitive transfers stopped and wrongdoers disciplined.
He also said the RCMP needs an ombudsman with whom officers could freely lodge complaints against senior management.
Gordon says it will be especially difficult for career RCMP officers to accept change, as well as those who have been in the force for many years who may be coming up for promotion.
"The hardest nut to crack without a shadow of a doubt is going to be shifting the occupational culture within the RCMP," he says. "It's going to be a monumental task."
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