Without seeing the original material, it looks like this article is a bit of a sensationalized look at a comprehensive analysis on the recruiting process. I *think* that at the heart of this, they had someone sit down, look at each stage of what a prospective Mountie goes through to get in, and challenge each step's validity- actually not a bad exercise for corporate processes to occasionally go through. What I'm *not* seeing in this article is any indication of conclusions that were recommended to and accepted by RCMP brass, resulting in changes to the recruiting process in the past couple years. Credit checks, a lengthy trip to Depot, medical standards, etc etc. It looks like what happened was barriers were identified. And that's fair and reasonable- something can be identified as a barrier but still ultimately be deemed to be necessary and appropriate.
The RCMP is unquestionably in crisis. They're short a couple thousand people Canada wide. Anecdotally both the number and the quality of recruits has fallen. It's harder to attract good people.
The RCMP is badly underpaid and under-compensated compared to most major police services in Canada. Mounties in most of Canada are making $12k - $15k a year less than their comparable ranks in municipal and provincial police services. they also accrue pension at a slower rate than some (2% / year vs 2.33% per year for some others), and have seen some other benefits whittled down. RCMP members in many places face the same challenges with the career growth of their spouse that we see in the military, due to geographic mobility, particularly early in a mountie's career. Many of the palces policed by the RCMP are simply less desirable places to live. Right off the hop the RCMP will struggle to attract applicants unwilling to risk being posted to North Battleford, SK, or Thompson, MB, or Fort McMurray, AB. Someone growing up in the lower mainland of BC, knowing the housing costs there, would be mor eliekly to wisht o go for a career with Vancouver Poolice, or Abbotsford, or Delta, or New Westminster, rather than roll the dice on RCMP detachments in Surrey, Burnaby, or Richmond, where they'll make significantly less money in a painfully expensive housing market.
The actual hiring of RCMP members is a barrier. The recruitment process is long. Generally longer than municipal services. A prospective recruit who applies to the RCMP, OPP, Ottawa, Peel, and Toronto will probably get snapped up by one of those other services well before the RCMP process the application. There is a shortage in administrative personnel to actually process applications for joining.
Against all this, the RCMP *should* be an employer of choice. It has all the right ingredients, it's just that the chef burned it all. The career prospects are unparalleled. While the rural and remote policing is a reality (and can be a phenomenal experience in their own right), so too are working on provincial and national level integrated teams for serious and organized crime, national security, and counter terrorism. There's a whole protective operations world that provides security to the PM, GG, senior government members, foreign diplomats and others at home and overseas. Recruits are even going to these various places right out of Depot now. There are integrated teams doing maritime patrol and vessel boarding on the great lakes and the west coast. There are emergent specializations on technological and cyber crime, working hand in hand with partner agencies and international allies. In basically any aspect of the world of policing, the RCMP has a unit or organization somewhere that excels at it and helps set the national (or even international) standard. Even the members on general duty taking 911 calls are getting early-career experience that a lot of their municipal counterparts simply won't because in those smaller communities, the patrol members handle every aspect of a file themselves. There's a good reason so many Mounties are snapped up by other police services as experienced lateral entries.
But it's a tight labour market for prospective cops. It's not a career a lot of people want. It's a relatively lucrative one, but a lot of 'suck' can come with it. And so every police service is absolutely competing for good people. The RCMP comes chained to the anchor of federal bureaucracy.
Pay *has* to increase to remain competitive. The RCMP just wrapped up a unionization vote a couple days ago with results pending some time this spring (that's a separate and messy story in its own right). Once there's a collective agreement in place, compensation *will* come up. But that's a few years out. Hiring processes need to be better resourced so that motivated applicants can be processed swiftly. Internally, human resources need to be better handled so that more Mounties are retained rather than changing employers. And then when all of this changes, they will need to sit back and wait a while, because it takes a while for the brand to catch up, and for serving Mounties to again begin recommending friends and family members to pursue the career. A lot of applicants are referrals from serving members- and at present a lot of serving members simply won't.
