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Head smashed in
by Ian T. Parsons
Peer at the cliff where millions of buffalo plunged to their deaths at Alberta’s Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump and it’s easier to understand how a massive animal – one who dominated the prairies for centuries – was reduced to today’s smattering in a few protected areas.
The buffalo might have survived had it not been for the European influx – white buffalo hunters and pioneers hungry for large tracts of farmland. The Indians killed more than they needed. approaching on foot and herding many buffalo toward the edge – stampeding them at the last moment so their momentum carried them to their deaths – wasn’t exactly considered a conservation maneuver, but was very efficient.
As I mused, I thought of another western icon: the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. This worthy and durable organization has been a fundamental building block of my personal being. My father joined in 1930 and policed all parts of Canada for 35 years. I followed in his footsteps in 1961, serving 33 years from coast to coast. My son recently completed training and is embarking on his own career. It was presumed that his future in the force was assured.
The buffalo analogy is ominous. Once they began running, nothing could stop their great momentum and prevent their rush over the precipice. A similar fate may be in store for the RCMP. Momentum is building and they soon may be ‘over the edge;’ this is partic-ularly ironic as the plains buffalo is an RCMP symbol. Canada’s increased population and complexity has overwhelmed our frontier police force, which originally, accepted and discharged all facets of policing in the west. No matter what the request from Ottawa, members accepted the task and usually carried it out successfully. “Never say No!” was the philosophy. The job was undertaken without question and every effort was made to meet the challenges, no matter the burden.
Such was the case when the RCMP expanded from small prairie commun-ities to large cities, beginning with Burnaby in the early 1950s. The staffing logistics were extremely taxing, sapping the force in many other areas. ‘Robbing Peter to pay Paul’ became policy. Many operations ran shorthanded in an effort to “feed the monster” in southern British Columbia.
Loathe to lobby government for more, administrators attempted to deal with inadequate resource internally. Amazingly, overtime pay wasn’t a factor until the late 1970s; members worked extra hours for free, often toiling alongside municipal police who were paid overtime.
As Canada began transitioning to a multicultural society, exacerbated by population growth, more cracks and fissures appeared. The RCMP’s basic para-military infrastructure did not change and it continued to be responsible for all levels of policing from coast to coast. Provincial and growing municipal contracts were demanding more resources. Our frontier police force was attempting to be all things to all people in what was becoming a very diversified country.
Trying to balance all this while also handling Canada’s national security caused serious shortcomings during the 1960s. The government acted on the McDonald Commission’s recommend-ation and removed security services from the RCMP purview, but the force did not relinquish this responsibility voluntarily. It had to be arbitrarily taken away.
Today, even after the Brown study recommended internal changes, few upper echelon RCMP executives or politicians focus on the essential problem – multijurisdictional saturation. Management makes lofty policy statements about elevating professionalism, improving the management environment and urging members to “meet the challenge.” Detachments operate under strength daily. Morale doesn’t improve and members feel under siege, both inwardly and outwardly.
Sadly, the force seems headed for the cliff. Like the emperor without clothes, the problem of ‘mandate overload’ is massive and should be obvious, yet not a single voice speaks up. The time has come to admit that the RCMP can no longer attempt to be all things to all people.
The RCMP has so many diversified and complex tasks, at so many levels, that the appearance of success is becoming more and more elusive. Immediate action must be taken to bring it into the 21st century. It must be extricated from municipal and provincial contracts – provincial contracts are up for renewal in 2012 – and transition to an exclusively federal focus.
The Force must concentrate its considerable expertise on federal responsibilities. It could be deployed in an ASSISTANCE capacity when asked to provincial and municipal agencies involving serious and/or interprovincial crime.
Rather than being distracted by a myriad of assorted demands, the force could target national maladies such as biker gangs, terrorism, corporate and economic crime and other national criminal maladies. Through mandate transition, there may still be time to prevent this noble “herd” from plunging over the cliff.
It will be a psychological debilitating national trauma if the ‘RCMP herd’ is not turned around and saved from destruction. Our leaders have a responsibility to ensure this national treasure, a Canadian icon etched indelibly into our psyche, is preserved. The RCMP is still admired worldwide and Canada will be a smaller country without it.
Turning the herd will not be easy. There will be resistance at all levels. The logistics are difficult and complex. Resistance to change will be rampant. It will take great political courage and dynamic leadership.
If current leaders do not display courage and stamina and move on these initiatives, the RCMP will continue to be deluged with a complexity of problems from the multi-levels of jurisdiction it now futilely wrestles with. The disasters will continue. It will sadly be swallowed up by a barrage of criticism and find itself broken and dying at the bottom of the cliff.
RCMP Inspector Ian T. Parsons (ret) can be reached at
[email protected] or
250 334-8151.
by Ian T. Parsons
Peer at the cliff where millions of buffalo plunged to their deaths at Alberta’s Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump and it’s easier to understand how a massive animal – one who dominated the prairies for centuries – was reduced to today’s smattering in a few protected areas.
The buffalo might have survived had it not been for the European influx – white buffalo hunters and pioneers hungry for large tracts of farmland. The Indians killed more than they needed. approaching on foot and herding many buffalo toward the edge – stampeding them at the last moment so their momentum carried them to their deaths – wasn’t exactly considered a conservation maneuver, but was very efficient.
As I mused, I thought of another western icon: the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. This worthy and durable organization has been a fundamental building block of my personal being. My father joined in 1930 and policed all parts of Canada for 35 years. I followed in his footsteps in 1961, serving 33 years from coast to coast. My son recently completed training and is embarking on his own career. It was presumed that his future in the force was assured.
The buffalo analogy is ominous. Once they began running, nothing could stop their great momentum and prevent their rush over the precipice. A similar fate may be in store for the RCMP. Momentum is building and they soon may be ‘over the edge;’ this is partic-ularly ironic as the plains buffalo is an RCMP symbol. Canada’s increased population and complexity has overwhelmed our frontier police force, which originally, accepted and discharged all facets of policing in the west. No matter what the request from Ottawa, members accepted the task and usually carried it out successfully. “Never say No!” was the philosophy. The job was undertaken without question and every effort was made to meet the challenges, no matter the burden.
Such was the case when the RCMP expanded from small prairie commun-ities to large cities, beginning with Burnaby in the early 1950s. The staffing logistics were extremely taxing, sapping the force in many other areas. ‘Robbing Peter to pay Paul’ became policy. Many operations ran shorthanded in an effort to “feed the monster” in southern British Columbia.
Loathe to lobby government for more, administrators attempted to deal with inadequate resource internally. Amazingly, overtime pay wasn’t a factor until the late 1970s; members worked extra hours for free, often toiling alongside municipal police who were paid overtime.
As Canada began transitioning to a multicultural society, exacerbated by population growth, more cracks and fissures appeared. The RCMP’s basic para-military infrastructure did not change and it continued to be responsible for all levels of policing from coast to coast. Provincial and growing municipal contracts were demanding more resources. Our frontier police force was attempting to be all things to all people in what was becoming a very diversified country.
Trying to balance all this while also handling Canada’s national security caused serious shortcomings during the 1960s. The government acted on the McDonald Commission’s recommend-ation and removed security services from the RCMP purview, but the force did not relinquish this responsibility voluntarily. It had to be arbitrarily taken away.
Today, even after the Brown study recommended internal changes, few upper echelon RCMP executives or politicians focus on the essential problem – multijurisdictional saturation. Management makes lofty policy statements about elevating professionalism, improving the management environment and urging members to “meet the challenge.” Detachments operate under strength daily. Morale doesn’t improve and members feel under siege, both inwardly and outwardly.
Sadly, the force seems headed for the cliff. Like the emperor without clothes, the problem of ‘mandate overload’ is massive and should be obvious, yet not a single voice speaks up. The time has come to admit that the RCMP can no longer attempt to be all things to all people.
The RCMP has so many diversified and complex tasks, at so many levels, that the appearance of success is becoming more and more elusive. Immediate action must be taken to bring it into the 21st century. It must be extricated from municipal and provincial contracts – provincial contracts are up for renewal in 2012 – and transition to an exclusively federal focus.
The Force must concentrate its considerable expertise on federal responsibilities. It could be deployed in an ASSISTANCE capacity when asked to provincial and municipal agencies involving serious and/or interprovincial crime.
Rather than being distracted by a myriad of assorted demands, the force could target national maladies such as biker gangs, terrorism, corporate and economic crime and other national criminal maladies. Through mandate transition, there may still be time to prevent this noble “herd” from plunging over the cliff.
It will be a psychological debilitating national trauma if the ‘RCMP herd’ is not turned around and saved from destruction. Our leaders have a responsibility to ensure this national treasure, a Canadian icon etched indelibly into our psyche, is preserved. The RCMP is still admired worldwide and Canada will be a smaller country without it.
Turning the herd will not be easy. There will be resistance at all levels. The logistics are difficult and complex. Resistance to change will be rampant. It will take great political courage and dynamic leadership.
If current leaders do not display courage and stamina and move on these initiatives, the RCMP will continue to be deluged with a complexity of problems from the multi-levels of jurisdiction it now futilely wrestles with. The disasters will continue. It will sadly be swallowed up by a barrage of criticism and find itself broken and dying at the bottom of the cliff.
RCMP Inspector Ian T. Parsons (ret) can be reached at
[email protected] or
250 334-8151.
