If I could start by responding to the comments about capacity, I'd like to clarify: we don't have a capacity issue at our training academy in Regina, known as Depot. I would not go so far as to suggest that there are not capacity issues that impact on our ability to actually attract and send people to Depot and have them become regular members of the RCMP. We have worked hard, for example, to reduce the amount of time it takes to process an application, but the new, better results still take about seven months. That's a lot longer than some other police forces, and there are capacity issues around that. I think we have to do a whole lot better.
With respect to our retention rates, we have done some work in this area, and I'm pleased to say that my understanding is that we actually have very good current statistics with respect to the number of people who stay until they're eligible for pensions. We do not, I don't believe, have a common practice to do exit interviews with respect to people who do depart early. I think this is certainly something we should look at. We have had work done by a number of people, including Professor Linda Duxbury, from Carleton University. She also provided material to the task force, and we're continuing to work with her to get a better understanding of ways that we can understand what motivates people of various backgrounds and demographics, with a view to trying to, if nothing else, keep our retention rates as good as they are.
We have challenges because other police forces and other entities actively recruit members of the RCMP. I've had a number of people who I know have been headhunted, people in senior positions in the RCMP, and unfortunately, we've had a number of people leave. We had one recently go to the nuclear industry. In Ontario we've had officers hired for the diamond industry. There's a lot of competition out there, and although we pay our police officers pretty well compared to other police forces, we don't pay them as well as the diamond industry does, I can tell you that.