The Government of Canada has been negotiating with provinces for the past four years to renew RCMP policing contracts. On April 2, 2012 the Province of Prince Edward Island announced their new agreement with Ottawa came into effect on April 1, 2012.
While some of us in the western provinces might think that is a sick and cruel joke, Prince Edward Islanders appear to be very happy about the contract renewal which splits the costs between Ottawa and the province 70-30.
“I look forward to renewing our partnership with the RCMP,” said P.E.I. Justice Minister Janice Sherry. “The RCMP and its members have always provided excellent policing service to the people of Prince Edward Island.”
I’m actually inclined to believe Minister Sherry on that count. I don’t think I’ve ever written a story about corrupt or thug RCMP members stationed in Prince Edward Island. Those stories seem be confined to BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan.
The RCMP currently handles all policing in the province of PEI with the exception of the cities of Charlottetown and Summerside and the towns of Borden-Carleton and Kensington.
Commenters on a PEI news story were generally in favour of the renewed deal. For example, “Joanna” wrote
The RCMP are top notch. I don’t think though the province gives them the money needed to do their job right. They are understaffed and often go short which brings a heavier work load on the ones on the front line, 2 men trying to to the job of 5 is a way to describe it.
The one problem with the Mounties is they work their best officers to a point [where] they break down…. either stress, alcoholism, mental health etc…and it has a negative impact on their well-being as a person. Mounties are a different breed given that on the island over 400 people apply each year and only 4-5 are successful. It is the top notch people who are selected for the job. Even the best people get worn out…. When is the top brass going to understand and give the front line member the amount of resources needed to do the job correct and safe?
Recent events in British Columbia seem to echo Joanna’s concerns.
I wrote yesterday about how RCMP Constable Michael Roe was arrested after firing his service pistol multiple times inside his residence while his wife and children were present. Very scary stuff, and as I wrote, it seems to speak to the RCMP’s need to deal with the stress levels of its members in a much more pro-active manner.
Another commenter wrote:
They have provided good professional service over the years and continue to do so.The policing environment is changing constantly and now is international in scope. The Mounties have the resources both internally and internationally to deal with the changes.
While that thought flies in the face of reports that tell of a police force stretched far too thin, the sentiment that the RCMP provides a good service in Prince Edward Island is clearly one that resonates across the province.
If only the RCMP could shine so brightly in the rest of the country…
i would think that part of the reason that the mounties in prince edward island do well is THAT they are understaffed.
it seems that where the police are forced to rely on community involvement not only for their work, but for their camaraderie and social setting, that they tend to be much better cops, as they become part of the community instead of the “enforcers” that over-lord over it.
it seems that when the departments get big and cops surround themselves with other cops “who understand them”, that that is when their intolerance and arrogance towards the civilian population grows; while on the flipside, when they actually live amongst the civilian population instead of at the fraternal order of police lodge, it is then that the police learn to understand civilians; and this is especially important when the fresh cops are taking the job as police are those returning from combat zones as soldiers, where “non-uniformed types” are typically perceived as “enemies”.
I may be mistaken but I “thought” Alberta had already signed up for a long term agreement with the RCMP.
In any case I feel it’s the best law enforcement we will ever get. I do wish the enlistment standards were be raised. In Alberta we have the prescence of the Sherriff’s. The force currently have a number of former RCMP people and unfortunately a large number of wannabbee officers which certainly lessen the professionalism one would expect of a police force.
The alternative to the RCMP would of course be a Provincial Police Force which would only create another arm of bureaucracy that no provinve really needs these days. Imagine a police force which would to a certain degree perform as the politicians of the province wish. This scenario was very helpful in the political advancements which put Bill Clinton in the Whitehous.
I’m not pleased with the quality of many of the RCMP, but we have to consider the work load they carry with a top heavy only semi competent leadership, and the fact that by lowering the enrollment demands we are seeing the proof that many wannabees simply can’t or don’t know how to “cut the mustard”.
PEI is the latest to re-sign and to my knowledge BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan have all signed on as well.
As we all know, governments survive on paperwork. Medical doctors have so much paper to fill out, they are hard-pressed to practice socialized medicine. Likewise, police officers are so swamped in writing reports and filling out forms they can hardly find time to fulfill their policing duties.
The RCMP work four days on, are off duty for two days, then return for four night shifts.
Most people are not biologically or psychologically conditioned to work nights, especially when it is an “on-again, off-again” schedule that can cause sleep deprivation and bring on preternatural personality and behavioral disorders, poor decision-making processes, mental and physical stress and even hallucinations before the breaking point manifests itself.
Anybody who has had to stay awake for up to 48 hours without the luxury of proper sleep knows, for instance, that a shadow or puddle of water can suddenly turn into an evil, threatening figure cloaked in a black-hooded robe. In the person’s mind, this imaginary shape may be the Grim Reaper or a common hoodlum coming to get him or a priest coming to give last rites.
Add to the equation, drug-taking, such as sleeping pills and alcohol, to induce sleep, and/or an untreated, shell-shocked war veteran who hasn’t been properly deprogrammed from military training, and/or noisy youngsters in the household, there’s bound to be trouble. And it’s the family members and the civilians in the community who are going to take the brunt of the officer’s breakdown.
But not to worry. The United Nations will keep the masses safe and sound under state control when all national, provincial and city police forces of the world are amalgamated into a One World Military. There will be more than an ample supply of brainwashed, hard-boiled, uniformed, jack-booted, armed thugs standing on every street corner and cruising our cities in armored, track vehicles as is already happening in the United States.
At the accelerated pace the UN is moving toward a one-world government, it is very doubtful that Canada’s national police force will complete a 20-year policing contract in Prince Edward Island–or any other province–as the RCMP.
The nature of using a federal police, the RCMP, too easily allows for those officers to be overworked, offices understaffed or under resourced.
These are things that a city or provincial police for would not get away with doing to it’s members or to the public.
Also, who sets provincial policing policy, the province, for which that is a constitutional responsibility or, in effect, the federal government or the RCMP themselves?
What recourse do ordinary citizens have to problems, especially a lack of policing in an area. Nothing is going to change as the province has opted out of it’s responsibility.
The separation of powers is there for a reason.