TIME TO BEEF UP RCMP: SENATOR

Staff levels at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police need to be almost
doubled if Canada hopes to remain secure, according to Senator Colin Kenny.

In a column appearing in the Citizen today, Mr. Kenny says, "there
are too many guns on the streets, the drug trade appears to be out of
control, and several reports by our Senate committee for national
security and defence have shown that in an era of worldwide terrorist
attacks, our coastlines and border crossings are virtually undefended."

He also says that Canada's air and sea ports are "riddled" with
organized crime, which creates opportunities for terrorists and gun
runners to enter Canada.

Mr. Kenny argued that putting money into regional police forces is
not going to help solve the crime issues that Canada is now facing.

He pointed to a fragmentation of responsibilities at Canada's air and
sea ports, and land crossings. At these points of entry,
responsibility for the nation's security is shared among Transport
Canada staff, airport authorities' security officers, staff from the
Canadian Air Transport Security Authority and municipal or provincial
police forces.

Mr. Kenny said while all of these agencies are trying to defend
Canada's borders, the criminal element has become organized, working
as one unit that is "skilled and single-minded".

He said only a national police force such as the RCMP can organize
itself in such a way that our borders can be secured.

"What Canada needs to beat criminals that don't restrict themselves
to municipal or provincial boundaries is an intelligence-led policing
effort with the resources and capabilities necessary to meet any
threat, anywhere in the country," he states.

Mr. Kenny challenged Prime Minister Stephen Harper to make the
expansion of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police a top priority.

The force currently employs 16,000 officers. Mr. Kenny would like to
see that increase to at least 21,000 by 2016.

He said that even staff increases such as this would not give the
country the policing force that it needs, however, "it will increase
the force's capacity, freeing up experienced officers to tackle our
national security problems on behalf of all Canadians," he said.