During my 32 years, I've worked in everything from a fly-in two-person detachment to a major municipal detachment, and the demographics of our policing are much different from what you see in your normal urban environment. We have a detachment commander who is a corporal, and that corporal could have seven to ten to twelve years' service. They have a good handle on core policing skills. Administrative and human resource management skills—that wasn't their bailiwick. All of a sudden they're put in command of a unit. They have the authority to discipline, under the current RCMP Act, up to and including the highest levels of informal, or under a proposed new act in relation to the conduct regime that has yet to be developed.
I think where we have failed in the current regime is that there was never any training. I was a commander, as a corporal in a small detachment, with nine years' service. I'll be honest: I knew very little, if anything, about the conduct regime of the RCMP Act. To me, it was just common sense.
As I progressed in my career, to the point where I was a staff sergeant running a unit with 40 members, unfortunately—or fortunately—I was able to dispense informal discipline, and I was able to refer misconduct that I felt, in my heart of hearts, was way beyond the scope of informal, up the chain of command to the appropriate officer or the commanding officer. I had those fortunate and unfortunate experiences as a commander. But there was never.... You learn as you go. You learn through osmosis.
If, under a new regime, we are going to push this down to the most appropriate level, there has to be learning and development and mentorship in relation to conduct authorities, giving commanders the knowledge, skills, and ability to do what the legislation intends us to do.
That was missing in the 1988 act. We can't go through that error again.