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Mounties made big miss-take

Written by Ted Byfield
Monday, July 23, 2007

You cannot have a police force without a code of rules—most of them unwritten

I was talking last week to a veteran Mountie, retired from the RCMP now for more than 30 years, after a career that was at least that long and took him to the rank, I believe, of inspector, though I’m not sure about that.

“What,” I asked “has gone wrong? Why is it that an institution, which for well over a century managed to operate with scarcely a blemish on its record, now encounters problems at every turn.

Discipline problems, training problems, money control problems—so much so that a civilian has been called in to take them over.”

“Too long,” he said. “I’ve been far too long away from them to make any worthwhile observations.”

I knew he would say this and it may be largely true. But perhaps not entirely.

“Well did you see any changes even in your day that could have led to the problems we have today?”

He was slow to answer me, but I knew he wanted to say something, but was hesitant to do so.

“Come on, out with it,” I said.

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