Canada moves to 2% GDP end of FY25/26 - PMMC

[daftandbarmy]

The whole of the CAF needs to have this realization.

You'd be surprised... complacency rules even in times of crisis.

For many years in the UK the barracks had no fences around them, or much comprehensive controlled access at all, even after the IRA had blown up a few of them.

I recall being looked at with wonder when I, as Duty Officer, ordered the guard to bring out some of the logs we used for PT and put them across the entrance road to our barracks in Aldershot to build a field expedient chicane after the threat level went through the roof. There was no entrance gate or 'non-permissive' structures of any kind, and a below average car bomber could easily have driven right up to the block housing both RHQ and the Guardhouse, taking care of business in one go.

The logs were gone the next day, of course, because: PT

 

[lenaitch]

We seem to have a lot of that going around these days.

Sir Robert Peel called for "citizens in uniform" and expected the rest of the citizenry to assist their fellow citizens in the commission of their duties. Up to and including apprehending and detaining suspects. (And defending themselves and their homes - but back to the point).

Peel assumed a mass of citizens, divided by class but, all citizens.

Currently we have a citizenry, including the police, divided into those that went to university and profess the faith and the rest of the unbelievers that didn't go to school.

And our institutions only recruit those that have learned the catechism.

Police, like many other sectors of society, are no longer reflective of the society they serve. They assist less and direct more.

In the States, in Indiana, the cops lived among us. To emphasize the fact they drove their cruisers home and parked them in their driveways.

Setting aside that the concept of 'citizen' was different back then (i.e. women as chattel), the world, and law enforcement, is a tad more complex now.

Personal vehicle assignment is common in several US jurisdictions. Where it doesn't exist, is a cop living on your street still not part of the community.

This thread shouldn't devolve into the law enforcement or emergency services in general. I think there is a thread for that.

 

[MilEME09]

On the topic of security at bases, should our ID cards include biometrics in the future?

 

[MJP]

On the topic of security at bases, should our ID cards include biometrics in the future?

We can't even issue a driver's license properly

 

[MilEME09]

We can't even issue a driver's license properly

Fair point, which is one thing we gotta sort out when the CDS wants more troops

 

[RedFive]

Currently we have a citizenry, including the police, divided into those that went to university and profess the faith and the rest of the unbelievers that didn't go to school.

And our institutions only recruit those that have learned the catechism.

Police, like many other sectors of society, are no longer reflective of the society they serve. They assist less and direct more.

In the States, in Indiana, the cops lived among us. To emphasize the fact they drove their cruisers home and parked them in their driveways.

RCMP Hiring pre-requisites

There is no requirement to have post secondary education in my agency. We will also hire permanent residents, so your assertion that there's some differentiation between the haves and have nots in policing is wrong, unless I've missed the point here.

We help, sometimes by taking control of a situation and giving direction. Sometimes that upsets people. Oh well. Chances are if the situation just needed somebody to "help", it didn't require the police in the first place. The days of your friendly neighbourhood Constable on his beat helping little old ladies cross the street and stranded motorists are over. There aren't enough of us, we've been cut to a razor thin budget, there's always some other emergency we're trying to get to and deal with.

If the public wants their friendly neighbourhood Constable on his beat back, they'd better be prepared to spend a lot more money on prisons, start firing judges who refuse to hold people in custody or sentence appropriately, and roughly double our budgets so people like me have the time to do that kind of thing.

I live in the community I police. I would absolutely love to have a set of RCMP wheels to drive home so I don't have to spend my own gas driving to work like everybody else in the world, but that's not realistic. My detachment had, at its peak, slightly less than 1000 police officers. The city can't afford that size of the fleet and neither can the Feds. The public would be pissed if every one of us had a personal set of government owned wheels to take home.

In short, its clear you don't like the police. But you've yet to propose a reasonable, well thought out way to improve things for the public.

 

[Kirkhill]

RCMP Hiring pre-requisites

There is no requirement to have post secondary education in my agency. We will also hire permanent residents, so your assertion that there's some differentiation between the haves and have nots in policing is wrong, unless I've missed the point here.

We help, sometimes by taking control of a situation and giving direction. Sometimes that upsets people. Oh well. Chances are if the situation just needed somebody to "help", it didn't require the police in the first place. The days of your friendly neighbourhood Constable on his beat helping little old ladies cross the street and stranded motorists are over. There aren't enough of us, we've been cut to a razor thin budget, there's always some other emergency we're trying to get to and deal with.

If the public wants their friendly neighbourhood Constable on his beat back, they'd better be prepared to spend a lot more money on prisons, start firing judges who refuse to hold people in custody or sentence appropriately, and roughly double our budgets so people like me have the time to do that kind of thing.

I live in the community I police. I would absolutely love to have a set of RCMP wheels to drive home so I don't have to spend my own gas driving to work like everybody else in the world, but that's not realistic. My detachment had, at its peak, slightly less than 1000 police officers. The city can't afford that size of the fleet and neither can the Feds. The public would be pissed if every one of us had a personal set of government owned wheels to take home.

In short, its clear you don't like the police. But you've yet to propose a reasonable, well thought out way to improve things for the public.

Dead wrong on me not liking the police.

I think there should be little distance between the policeman on the beat and public.

 

[RedFive]

Dead wrong on me not liking the police.

I think there should be little distance between the policeman on the beat and public.

So what do you propose to close that gap?

 

[Kirkhill]

So what do you propose to close that gap?

To be honest I don't know. I grew up in a country where I saw police on the street and was told to go find them when I was in trouble. I grew up with friends of the family who were coppers. My cousin's daughter is a DCI with the West Midland and his other daughter is a forensic psychologist with the Prison Service. One bangs them up and the other tries to get them out....

In Canada one of our neighbours was a local copper. He and Dad were pals.

Beyond those folks I can honestly say that I have had no social contact with any policeman of any sort. Except for the Hoosier trooper who lived on our crescent in Indiana.

 

[quadrapiper]

It is not “To-MAY-to, To-MAH-to” when we have the law governing the CAF explicitly stating one of these is not okay.

Why does Class C exist at all? A B contract can stretch, IIRC, to the duration of WWII...

 

[McG]

The existence of Class C and Class B is not the problem. The problem is a chronic use of Class B to circumvent Reg F personnel caps and create positions that persist forever is inconsistent with the NDA.

 

[FJAG]

I see this as a bit of a To-MAY-to, To-MAH-to issue. Your new class of RegF service is a member that is assigned to a permanent posting while a Reservist on Class C is a member that has full-time employment where they live. Either way it's someone fulfilling a full-time position and not being subject to re-location. One requires a new class of RegF service the other makes use of a class of Reserve service that already exists. I don't really care which way it is handled administratively but the end result remains the same.

It's not really. The NDA specifies that:

Regular force

• 15 (1) There shall be a component of the Canadian Forces, called the regular force, that consists of officers and non-commissioned members who are enrolled for continuing, full-time military service.
  (2) The maximum numbers of officers and non-commissioned members in the regular force shall be as authorized by the Governor in Council, and the regular force shall include such units and other elements as are embodied therein.

In other words the government limits the size of the regular force through an OiC - currently to some 71,500 albeit that it is understrength at roughly 63,500. All of those 71,500 positions are set against a specific regular force establishment. There is nothing wrong whatsoever in employing reservists to backfill empty full-time positions which can't be filled with RegF personnel regardless of whether at Class B or C. There is also nothing wrong with having reservists serve on short term Class B or C service contracts.

There is a problem, however, when the CAF, without a government authorized OiC, creates additional continuing, full-time positions to be filled by Class C reservists indefinitely. Let's say you create an additional 5,000 continuing, full-time security force positions across the country (over and above the 71,500 RegF positions) to be filled by full-time reservists.

If, on the other hand, you take the OiC authorized 71,500 regular force positions and let's say you assign 10,000 of those to static positions and 61,500 to postable positions then you have not exceeded the overall full-time establishment.

Over and above strict legal interpretive issue there are funding allocation and funding source issues involved when you take. @dapaterson can explain those much better than I.

Why does Class C exist at all? A B contract can stretch, IIRC, to the duration of WWII...

QR&O 9.06 to 9.08 explains the difference. There are pay and benefits issues as well.