The Mounties have a new boss

Well, government has finally done it -- it has placed a civilian at the helm of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Canada's Top Cop -- as the position has often been termed -- is no longer a cop.
Why? you might ask.

Because the federal government says the RCMP is broken.

Further, the government seems to be placing the blame for the break in this august institution at the feet of former Commissioner Guiliano Zachardelli, or Zack to anyone who knew him.

Here's what I know.

From 1995 to 2000, I worked at RCMP HQ. I created the Communication Services Branch and became the Officer-in-Charge. As a civilian, I had rank equivalency as an Inspector.

The individual nearest to me in job description was given a rank higher although he was only a unit head and I was OIC of a branch. Sometimes, anatomy can do that for you. When I asked why, I was told by the good folks at HR, "Sometimes we make exceptions." My lower rank allowed me to collect overtime, which the higher rank did not, so financially I was ahead and didn't fight the glaring inequity.

But this isn't a rant about gender issues.

It's about a Force I once loved.

I was the speechwriter for the Commissioner and -- although I had already left the Force -- marched in the first-ever civilian troop to be allowed to participate in the change-of-guard ceremony when Zack took the reins from former Commissioner Murray.

It was Zack, by the way, who broke with tradition and permitted civilians to march. (We weren't pretty, marching in formation is tougher than it looks, but we tried.)

In the position I held, I participated in morning prayers -- the national morning briefing for the Commissioner and senior ranks. It is so-called because HQ happens to be housed in what was a monastery. I was involved in many, many meetings during a time when government cut-backs where hitting the Force and causing more-than-a-little pain.

Government didn't seem to understand that a police force isn't just another government department. The RCMP didn't understand how to deal with government bureaucracy.

The prevailing attitude in government was so bad we were well aware if we needed money to do something, we'd be told no before we ever walked our proposal through the door. The purse-string holders didn't want to hear from the Mounties, regardless.

I travelled some while I was with the Force and whenever I did, I always ponied up at the end of my work day to do a ride-along. You know, spend eight hours in a patrol car chatting with someone on the front line.

I was also consulted by other divisions (provinces) on communication issues and heard of the impacts of cut-backs on them.

Cops who had to go to wrecker's yards for "new" tires.

Patrol cars used in their crumpled states after accidents because there was no money to fix them.

Airplanes used for off-shore air patrols that where grounded.

Cuts to training including one graduating class that, when told they may not have jobs once they graduated, (previously unheard of) where asked whether they wanted the Force to find them jobs with other police agencies. They all said no and, in the end, were able to stay with the Mounties.

When the federal government froze employees' salaries for seven years as a result of fiscal restraint, the Force's salaries were frozen as well. The RCMP saw the salaries of their colleagues in every other police force increase and the RCMP was no longer the premier employer in terms of salary. Were they cops or were they bureaucrats?

These salary cuts hurt. One of the areas the RCMP police is around Vancouver, a city with a very hot real estate market. Our new graduates earned so little, I heard of those who had to drive up to two hours into work because they couldn't afford housing any closer to their detachment. (They worked 12-hour shifts, BTW.)

Government viewed the RCMP as simply another drain on the federal budget rather than a necessary value.

When 5,000 employees of the Force (regular, civilian and public servants) participated in an exercise to create mission, vision and values statements for the Force, the feds hit the roof. There was a statement in the mission that said the Force would look for new policing business.

The RCMP is a pretty unique institution. It is at once a federal force (akin to the FBI, the DEA, and scores of other federal enforcement agencies in the U.S.) while also being the provincial police in eight of ten provinces and all territories, and holds more than 200 contracts with municipalities across the country to be the local cops as well.

It is in this last role when tied with the statement in the Force's mission that caused the uproar because of a funding formula in municipal policing.

In communities of less than 5,000, the feds ante in 20 percent of the budget. (I hope I've got the number right, it's been a while. Also, this formula has probably changed since I was there.) The 80/20 split is done so that, if there is ever a requirement -- say like a large-scale disaster -- cops can be pulled from across the country to help out.

Obtaining more policing contracts, then, costs the feds more money. Eek!

It seemed to me, when I worked there, that this disconnect between the government and the Force was terribly devastating to Force morale and required senior management to be more concerned with breaching the divide than focusing on policing.

More and more civilians were hired in senior ranks to help bridge the gap. people who would "understand government and navigate through bureaucratic quagmires."

I'm not saying that hiring civilians is the wrong thing to do. I was one, for heavens sake. But I do think that in a policing environment, an environment not instantly understood by outsiders, it behooves senior managers to make an effort to understand their people and the jobs they do.

I do not know of an instance when this was done.

The federal government wasn't the only problem facing the Force and its front-line.

By the very nature of a paramilitary organization, those who rise through the ranks gain more distance from the front-line. By the time one reaches the rank of say assistant commissioner, ones policing days are maybe a decade or more in the past.

The issues I cited earlier -- such as the police patrol planes being grounded due to lack of cash --were vehemently denied at HQ. If they said they were flying then they were flying. Of course, it's not like it's really great strategy to let smugglers know you aren't patrolling, is it? So, it was denied.

Sometimes, the lack of knowledge about the realities of front-line policing was comical. As the OIC Communications Services, I tried to come up with ways to provide and receive information from the front-line in the days before we were all connected via Internet. Could we use our radio to provide Force news at the tops of each hour? No. Could we tape information and send it to detachments so police officers could listen to the news in their cars? Yes, I was told by my boss and senior cop. This might be possible.

Shortly after, I went on my first ride-along.

"Where's your tape player?" I asked hitting the hard plastic surface where the tape slot should have been.

"Are you crazy? We don't have those in our cars. We haven't even had air conditioning for that long. They didn't want us to be too comfortable."

Imagine what the scorn HQ would have faced if I had sent out the first recordings!

So, from my point-of-view, Zack isn't the problem. A symptom, maybe, but not the cause. The Force has been in trouble for a long time from forces within and without.

I only hope that putting a civilian at the helm won't crush what is left of Mountie pride and I wish the new commissioner luck.

I really hope this turns out well.

Colleen