RICHMOND'S MOUNTING TROUBLES WITH RCMP START AT TOP

VANCOUVER -- It's time someone took a serious look at how the RCMP is
run in this country. But I won't hold my breath.

The City of Richmond also thinks someone should take a closer look at
our national police force. In fact, councillors there have had enough
of the Mounties. They recently voted to examine the feasibility of
establishing a unique force for the city, just like those in
Vancouver and many other Lower Mainland municipalities.

Why? Because the city is sick of paying 90 per cent of the RCMP's
costs and not having any say in how the money is spent. The final
straw came when the Mounties presented the city with a bill for
$1-million, its share of a regional emergency response team.

"[The response team] may be a great idea," long-time Councillor Derek
Dang says. "But there was no forewarning. By law we have to balance
our budgets and because of that we need some say and control over our
costs. The current situation with the Mounties is unworkable. The
[RCMP] leadership in Vancouver and Ottawa, they just don't care what
we have to say."

He says the city is happy with the local force, which has tried in
recent years to implement innovative methods to fight crime and
educate young criminals so they won't offend again. He says, however,
that some of the more unorthodox and cutting-edge programs being used
by the RCMP in Richmond are now being undermined by old-school
thinking coming out of headquarters in Ottawa.

"The RCMP officials back east seem a bit out of touch on some
issues," Mr. Dang says.

No kidding.

Just this week an internal RCMP communications strategy was obtained
by The Vancouver Sun.

It suggested the force start giving less information to the media so
there would be fewer crime-based stories in the news, thereby
creating less irrational fear among citizens who might be concerned
about their safety and who might begin thinking police are doing a
poor job of protecting them.

That sounds about right to me. Earlier this year, one of the force's
top media relations officials, John Ward, said, "The public doesn't
have a right to know anything," when it comes to the force's internal
investigation of civilian deaths at the hands of RCMP officers.

It has now been eight months since Ian Bush was killed in a RCMP
lockup in Houston, B.C., after being arrested for having an open beer
outside a hockey game. Eight months in, and the RCMP have said
nothing about the incident other than to lay the early blame on an
unarmed Mr. Bush.

Nathan Cullen, MP for Skeena-Bulkely Valley, made headlines when he
admitted he was afraid to pursue the matter too aggressively in
Ottawa because the RCMP might destroy his career.

He later apologized for the comment. Why, we're not sure, because he
was only saying what he honestly believed.

Many politicians fear taking on the Mounties for that very reason.

The former head of the federal civilian watchdog agency in charge of
the RCMP said in a published interview this year that her time on the
job was a nightmare.

Shirley Heafey, a respected lawyer who chaired the RCMP public
complaints commission for eight years, said the Liberal government
did not want her angering the RCMP or investigating it too aggressively.

The RCMP leadership, meantime, resented her, she said.

In the interview, Ms. Heafey called RCMP Commissioner Giuliano
Zaccardelli a "bit of a bully" who resisted turning over files.

"He just didn't co-operate," Ms. Heafey said. "We met regularly and
he said: 'You don't have the right to this information and I am the
one who decides what you get.' "

And people wonder why a culture of secrecy and arrogance permeates
many levels of the force?

It goes without saying that most RCMP officers are well-meaning,
hard-working folk who perform an important and often dangerous job.

Many have died doing it. Unfortunately, this always forms the basis
of the response the RCMP has to any criticisms about the way it does
its business.

We don't understand the job they do. We don't put our lives on the
line every day like they do. So we should all just shut up.

And mostly we do. Canadians are good at that, especially if it's the
police telling us to.

Wes Pue, a professor of law at the University of British Columbia and
an expert on the RCMP, says it's time the RCMP Act was overhauled. It
needs more accountability built into it.

"Look," he says, "this is a good force in general but it is terrible
at some things. The RCMP is dreadful at investigating themselves and
it stonewalls the public complaints commission every chance they get.

"The smart thing to do is not to try and cover things up, and yet the
Mounties keep doing it again and again and again. The RCMP Act needs
to be reviewed. The public complaints commission doesn't have a big
enough budget to do an effective job. It's effectively toothless.

"Very serious issues are being swept under the rug all the time."

If the City of Richmond has its way, it may just sweep the RCMP out
of town. Maybe then someone will ask why.