Audit Slams RCMP on Mental Health, Public Safety Minister Says Findings "Disappointing"
"A third report that exposes the RCMP’s failure to ensure a safe and healthy workplace for employees led the public safety minister Tuesday to contradict Canada’s top Mountie on what ails the iconic police force.

It came after Federal Auditor General Michael Ferguson released an audit that found the RCMP failed to allocate enough money and staff to implement a mental health strategy it rolled out in May 2014.

'There’s a good strategy on paper, but the challenge is to actually make that work,' said Ferguson, whose audit directly ties mental health issues to operational effectiveness. 

'This audit is important because poor mental health has a direct impact on the well-being of members, their colleagues and their families. Left unmanaged and unsupported, mental health issues can lead to increased absenteeism, workplace conflict, high turnover, low productivity, and increased use of disability and health benefits.'

'Ultimately, members’ poor mental health affects the RCMP’s capacity to serve and protect Canadians.'”

View the Full Report 
 

Environmental Extremism a Rising Threat to Energy Sector, RCMP Warns
RCMP analysts have warned government and industry that environmental extremists pose a “clear and present criminal threat” to Canada’s energy sector, and are more likely to strike at critical infrastructure than religiously inspired terrorists, according to a report released under Access to Information.

Canada

Discourses Of Difference - Constituting The "Ethnic" Offender
Sarah Turnbull, Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies Alumna  presents at 41st Annual Conference of the European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control

Gag Order To Be Imposed On New RCMP Transparency Office
The federal government is developing a commission to help restore public confidence in the RCMP – but it will be shrouded in secrecy.

Planning documents for Public Safety indicate anyone working for the RCMP’s new Civilian Review and Complaints Commission will be required to take an “oath of secrecy.”

“This oath ensures that these persons pledge not to disclose any information that they come across in the course of their duties to anyone not legally entitled to that information,” the document reads.

Correctional Service Canada Withholding Information On Anti-Psychotic Drugs: Watchdog

Federal correctional authorities are getting in the way of an investigation into drug-prescribing practices for inmates by withholding relevant information, Canada's prisons ombudsman says.

It's Time To Talk About MDMA
"This isn't another health-class lecture, but a grown up discussion of what's really in those pressed pills and how to make it safer."

RCMP Question Credibility Of 3 Tory Senators In Duffy Deal

RCMP documents filed in an Ottawa courthouse Wednesday reveal a level of skepticism the police have in the roles three Conservative senators played in the Mike Duffy expenses scandal.

The documents, filed as part of the RCMP's criminal investigation, make it clear the RCMP's lead investigator, Cpl. Greg Horton, does not fully believe information he has so far received from Senators Marjory LeBreton, Carolyn Stewart Olsen and David Tkachuk.

Through interviews with the three senators, as well as emails from various staffers in the Prime Minister's Office, the RCMP has attempted to piece together a picture of the role they may have had in the public relations game plan that was developed to explain why Duffy preemptively repaid his housing claims.

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B.C. Mountie injured as moose rams cruiser, stomps on roof, then returns to forest

In this case of moose versus Mountie, the officer — and his car — got the worst of it.

RCMP say the officer was writing a report in his car in Prince George, B.C., on Thursday when he saw two moose crossing an intersection.

The Mountie moved his car to try to stop another vehicle heading towards the animals when the bull moose rammed the front grill and bumper of the police cruiser before climbing over the hood and onto the roof.

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Weird. Tom

Report exonerates RCMP for actions during violence-marred G20 summit

The RCMP abandoned its policy of allowing protesters to peacefully disperse when it assisted the municipal Toronto police force in three “kettling” incidents during the G20 summit in June 2010, a watchdog report says. RCMP officers on the ground during the summit expressed concerns about using the “kettling” tactic — forcibly boxing in protesters — but relented because they were officially under the command of other police forces.


Other than that criticism, however, the report from the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP nearly completely exonerates the force’s actions during the summit, for which more than two dozen complaints were filed. The national force acted in a “reasonable and appropriate” manner during the violence-marred summit, the report said.

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Gun registry: Vic Toews orders RCMP to flag efforts to track long-gun sales

The federal public safety minister has fired off a rocket to RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson, ordering him to flag any efforts by provinces to track long-gun sales.
In a letter sent Tuesday to the top Mountie, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews threatened unspecified “legislative and regulatory measures” against defiant provincial firearms officers who engage in what he calls “unauthorized data collection.”
Although the RCMP’s operations are supposed to be at arms-length from the public safety minister’s office, Toews clearly instructs Paulson in writing about what he expects of the RCMP.
The RCMP is in charge of administering the firearms program, which includes gun-owner licensing and the collection of data on restricted and prohibited weapons. It also maintains — until a Quebec court challenge is decided — the data previously collected under the defunct long-gun registry.

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RCMP boss asserts his independence

RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson is backtracking on his call for MPs and senators to go through the Department of Public Safety to hold a meeting with him, saying he will safeguard his independence from the rest of government “like a terrier.”

Commissioner Paulson told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday he intends to give notice to his political bosses only about meetings that might be of interest to them, such as with diplomats or politicians. He added that he has no obligation to debrief the government after he meets with RCMP outsiders.

Regarding an e-mail in which he recently called on Liberal Senator Colin Kenny to “route” his request through Public Safety, Commissioner Paulson suggested that it was a polite brush-off.

“I’d just as soon not meet with Senator Kenny, to be honest with you,” Commissioner Paulson said of the former president of the Senate committee on national security.

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More guns in Canada now, but fewer owners: RCMP

Canadians own more than half a million more firearms than they did in 2006, according to the 2010 annual report from the RCMP’s Canadian Firearms Program.

But while federal firearms data shows that the number of registered gun owners in Canada is dropping, the arsenal of each is getting bigger and bigger.

But many gun owners — and a Tory MP — say the government’s estimates are off the mark, and that there may be twice as many firearms, and firearms owners, in Canada as the RCMP says. They say many Canadian gun owners are “going underground,” due to fears they will face increased police scrutiny and the seizure of their weapons.

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Canadians trust Mounties, but leadership an issue

More than 80 per cent of Canadians believe Canada's Mounties are honest and work with integrity and professionalism, according to an annual survey gauging satisfaction with the national police force.

However, the same survey showed Canadians have a dimmer view of the force when it comes to its leadership and its ability to communicate. And less than 60 per cent of First Nations respondents said the force was responsive to aboriginal issues.

The Harris/Decima survey involving 7,000 Canadians took place over June and July 2011, prior to the appointment of a new commissioner and before the emergence of a sexual harassment scandal involving the force. A margin of error was not provided.

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Former Mountie paints picture of near daily harassment

RCMP Constable Janet Merlo says she felt compelled to respond when a supervising officer made a sexist remark to her in the company of a high-ranking official from the force.

“You know, if I were to make a complaint, I could probably retire on just what you say to me alone,” she said.

“What was that?” her boss replied. “Did you say you want to retire on me? Does that mean you like it on top?”

It was at this point that the senior RCMP officer in the room interjected.

“If you’re going to talk to her like that, do it somewhere else,” he said to the male officer. “I don’t want to be a witness to stuff like that.”

It was at that moment that Janet Merlo realized just how little hope there was for women in the force who, like her, were dealing with harassment of various forms on a near daily basis. In Ms. Merlo’s case, she says that would include everything from sex toys left in her desk drawer to a scolding for getting pregnant that came with the advice to “keep your ... legs closed” the next time she considered the idea.

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Mounties wanted ‘low-key’ probe into G20 activities, documents show

he RCMP recommended an investigation into its G20 activities be kept “low-key,” noting that it played a limited role in the controversial mass arrests and detentions that occurred outside the summit, internal documents show.

The force’s G20 conduct is facing renewed public scrutiny following revelations that it spied on Ontario activists for a year and a half before the Toronto summit, but police still failed to stop the smashing rampage that took place in the streets that weekend.

In an August, 2010, briefing note to then RCMP commissioner William Elliott, bureaucrats suggested a proactive review of the force’s role in the G20 would be “low-key and measured.”

The note, obtained under Access to Information law, said the Commission for Public Complaints against the RCMP had proposed the review. Senior brass would have an opportunity to examine the findings and remove sensitive information, the note said.

Read on...

Police investigating police. Works every time. Tom

How police infiltrated groups planning G20 protests

In early 2009, two strangers started mingling with the activist communities of Kitchener-Waterloo and Guelph.

The first was a man. Those who crossed paths with him say he ingratiated himself by chauffeuring people to protests in his white van and buying them pitchers of beer at the bar after. The second, a woman, told people she had fled an abusive relationship, acquaintances say.

Both were undercover police officers infiltrating organizations planning protests against the Toronto G20 summit in June, 2010. They were part of the Joint Intelligence Group, an RCMP-led squad with officers seconded from the Ontario Provincial Police and other forces, whose task was to gather information on threats to the summit.

The probe, which lasted a year and a half, would fail to prevent the smashed windows, burning squad cars and 1,100 arrests for which the summit would become known. But it did end with 17 people accused of conspiracy to commit mischief. For at least some of them, Tuesday is expected to be judgment day.

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Wonder what other lucky groups are being infiltrated by the police. Tom

B.C. considers provincial police after Ottawa threatens RCMP withdrawal

Ottawa is threatening to pull all RCMP municipal detachments out of British Columbia if the province does not sign a take-it-or-leave-it new policing contract by the end of November.

B.C. Solicitor-General Shirley Bond said the federal government’s ultimatum leaves the province with no option but to begin investigating the possibility of re-establishing its own police force, something it hasn’t had since 1950.

“I don’t want to characterize it that I’m looking at a provincial police force,” Ms. Bond told reporters, after her startling announcement Tuesday at the annual Union of B.C. Municipalities convention.

“My number one priority is reaching a settlement with the federal government to maintain an RCMP contract. But when you receive an ultimatum that the RCMP may be withdrawing from this province, I think any responsible minister would begin to do their homework.”

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RCMP to probe $50 million G8 legacy fund, after scathing auditor’s report

Following a complaing by a former Liberal MP, the RCMP has decided to look into allegations the Harper government misappropriated $50 million for the G8 legacy fund.

OTTAWA—The RCMP is looking into allegations that the Harper government misappropriated funds in order to lavish $50 million on a cabinet minister’s riding prior to last year’s G8 summit.

The probe comes on the heels of an auditor general’s report earlier this month, which concluded the government “did not clearly or transparently” explain how the money was going to be spent when it sought Parliament’s approval for a G8 legacy fund for Tony Clement’s riding.

The Mounties’ involvement was prompted by a complaint from former Liberal MP Marlene Jennings. She was interviewed for an hour last week by three RCMP officers.

“My sense is that they’re taking it very seriously,” Jennings said in an interview Tuesday. “My sense is that they’re looking at this to see if there are any elements of proof that there may have been wilful intention to mislead Parliament.”

Jennings, who was defeated in the May 2 election, first sought an investigation in the midst of the election campaign. Her complaint was prompted by an early draft of the auditor general’s report, which was leaked mid-campaign to The Canadian Press.

The early draft was much more blunt than the final version released on June 9. It concluded the government “misinformed” Parliament about the G8 legacy fund and suggested it may have acted illegally.

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New RCMP watchdog is toothless

Patronage appointment is patronizing to Canadians

Gary Mason

Give Ian McPhail marks for honesty anyway.

When the newly appointed watchdog of the RCMP was asked by The Globe and Mail's Colin Freeze what he knew about the federal civilian oversight body he was taking over, he said our reporter likely knew more about the agency's background than he did.

The Prime Minister's Office must have loved reading that.

Mr. McPhail's new job as chair of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP is one of the most cynical and discouraging appointments this government has made in the past four years. The only qualification that the man seems to have for the job is the past work that he has done for the Conservative Party.

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RCMP rules on Taser use revamped

Feb 12, 2009 10:50 AM
Tonda MacCharles Ottawa Bureau

OTTAWA – The RCMP has shifted its Taser policy, now training its officers that use of the stun gun poses a risk of death "particularly for acutely agitated individuals."

In the past, the RCMP had suggested using the weapon was appropriate in cases where "resistant" individuals could be subdued in order for them to be given medical attention.

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CSIS, RCMP monitor protest groups for possible Olympic threats

Jeff Lee, Canwest News ServicePublished: Thursday, October 09, 2008

Security forces are predicting protests will escalate as the 2010 Olympics approach and have mounted a number of "intelligence probes" to counteract threats.

The information is contained in documents obtained by Canwest News Service from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the RCMP, the lead agency for the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit.

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Wonder if non-violent anti-war groups are included. See story below on Maryland State Police. Tom