| NOTE:
Versions of this story also ran in the National Post and the Victoria Times
Colonist.
PUBLICATION: The Ottawa
Citizen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RCMP skimps on recertifying contract officers: Training gaps threaten public health, safety; open force to risk of litigation, Fraser says -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gaps in training for RCMP officers contracted out to the provinces may be compromising public health and safety, Auditor General Sheila Fraser has found. Every one to three years, the force requires its officers to complete mandatory certification and recertification in six critical areas, including first aid, CPR and use of the baton and pistol. In her latest report to Parliament, Ms. Fraser found 57 per cent of contracted peace officers met all six mandatory training requirements in 2003. A year later, the number plummeted to just 6.2 per cent. "We found that gaps in training may be preventing the RCMP from meeting its clients' expectations of fully trained police officers," the report said. "It may also be leaving itself open to the risk of litigation." The RCMP has also failed to ensure all rookie officers complete mandatory six-month on-the-job training stints, including pairing up with coaches full-time for the first eight weeks. At a press conference yesterday, Ms. Fraser called the findings in her latest report to Parliament "quite troubling." The Mounties blame staffing shortfalls, an issue Ms. Fraser also addressed at length in the report. The RCMP provides about 10,700 officers to 11 provinces and territories at an annual cost of $1.6 billion. The force projects a need for almost 1,400 new cadets per year over the next four years, due mostly to an increased demand for contract work. The capacity of its training facility in Regina allows for only 1,200 annually, however, and the number can't be increased in the near future. Smaller detachments are already facing gaps when officers are absent because of illness, parental leave, holidays and suspensions. While there are some ad hoc mechanisms to deal with shortfalls, such as temporarily deploying officers from other areas, the report noted openings remain for long periods of time while remaining officers are forced to do the extra work. "This places the RCMP at risk of overloading the remaining peace officers in these detachments," it reads. Deputy Conservative leader Peter MacKay latched onto Ms. Fraser's finding that the Mounties are meeting contracting obligations at the expense of federal policing. The auditor general found vacancy rates as high as 25 per cent in some federal policing areas, including drug interdiction and organized crime units. "The RCMP budget for contracting policing is shortchanged and that shortfall is made up by taking budgets away from units for terrorism and organized crime," he charged in the House of Commons. "Why should anyone believe the government is serious about fighting organized crime when they are under-resourcing?" Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan responded that the Mounties' budget has recently climbed from $2 billion to $3 billion. She added the government accepts the findings, and the RCMP pledged in the audit to ensure contract and federal policing deployments are split. Despite the shortfalls, Ms. Fraser pointed out that municipalities and provinces are generally pleased with the service they receive. ---------------------------------------------------- PUBLICATION: GLOBE
AND MAIL -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE AUDITOR-GENERAL'S
REPORT -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Inadequate or incomplete training of many of the country's 18,000 RCMP officers threatens to compromise public safety and that of the police themselves, Auditor-General Sheila Fraser has found. In a wide-ranging audit of government operations released yesterday, Ms. Fraser found that only 6.2 per cent of the national police force's officers met all of their mandatory training requirements in 2004, a huge decline from 2003, when 57 per cent did so. "Gaps in training, qualification, and certification may affect the health and safety of peace officers and the public," the report concludes. Last March, four Mounties ranging in age from 25 to 32 were gunned down in Alberta by a deranged man, James Roszko, who killed himself. The tragedy raised questions about whether the four officers were adequately trained and prepared. The RCMP continues to investigate the matter. Ms. Fraser's report does not address the shootings in Mayerthorpe, Alta., or any other specific case, but paints a broad portrait of a police force struggling with budgetary constraints even as its loss of staffdue to demographics and attrition is set to rise sharply. All Mounties are required to re-qualify in six key policing skills -- pistol, baton, pepper spray, the use of neck holds, first aid and CPR -- at intervals ranging from one to three years. But significant numbers are not doing so. Though nearly 80 per cent of officers met the requirement for pistol recertification in 2004, fewer than 50 per cent re-qualified on neck holds or the use of pepper spray and batons. Fewer than 40 per cent met their first-aid qualification last year, while fewer than 20 per cent met the training standard in cardiopulmonary resuscitation. At the same time, an audit of recruit training revealed significant and growing deviations from the force's stated standards. For example, newly graduated RCMP cadets are required to undergo a six-month "coaching" period when they begin active duty. During their first two months on the job they're to be paired full-time with a senior officer. But in many cases that isn't happening, the audit found. Sixteen per cent of recruits do not receive the full coaching period, the audit found. A significant minority of the coaches -- 12 per cent in the audit -- are junior officers, with less than two years of experience. Most RCMP officers, about 60 per cent, are engaged in contract policing, whereby the Mounties provide police service to eight provinces (Ontario and Quebec have provincial police forces), the territories and 192 municipalities, as well as more than 500 native communities. But although clients expressed general satisfaction with the policing they receive, the Mounties have no system for monitoring their performance, the audit found. Moreover, the force's focus on contract policing has impinged on its national policing effort in areas such as drug interdiction and organized crime as resources have become strained. In contract provinces, the audit found vacancy rates in those two areas as high as 25 per cent. The Mounties also face a staffing crunch, the audit noted. The force expects to lose up to 700 of its 11,000 contract officers in each of the next five years through attrition. It projects demand for nearly 1,400 new cadets each year for the next four years in order to meet increasing demands from its provincial, territorial and municipal clients. ----------------------------------------------- AUDITOR GENERAL REPORT
- NOVEMBER 22, 2005 PUBLIC SAFETY MINISTER McLELLAN ON THE SHORTAGE OF 1,059 RCMP OFFICERS http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/2005_new/33.htm |