Copied from start of article:
OTTAWA — The Royal Canadian Mounted Police could one day transform into a federal police agency that operates more like the FBI under an ambitious but controversial concept that has gained new traction in the nation’s capital, the Star has learned. The idea that the RCMP should get out of the business of front-line, day-to-day policing — duties the Mounties now carry out under contracts to provinces — and shift its focus to challenges like national security, terrorism, financial crimes, cybercrime or organized crime, is not a new one.
I can see why the RCMP would want to get out of policing contracts, especially in remote rural areas. Provinces cut/freeze the policing budgets, so the RCMP reduce the number of officers/local detachments, response times go up, politicians blame the RCMP. Rince and repeat.
With provincial or municipal police forces, poor policing lands squarely on the municipality/province.
The RCMP needs reform but I don’t understand why anyone thinks this is the reform it needs. More like the FBI? A stronger federal/state policing division makes sense in the states because each state has it’s own criminal code. In Canada the criminal code is federal so that distinction is not so important. The article unfortunately did not have a lot of details on why there is interest in this change.
It’s fishing … fishing for feedback and gauging the public response.
Even the lack of a response is a response they will use to guide them on what they can / can’t do, can get away with / can’t get away with.
I don’t see why it can’t do both policing like it was intended and cross-provincial investigating activities since it’s already cross-province.
