Mr. Chair, Canada's national police force is a modern police organization that is responsible for enforcing the law, preventing crime and protecting Canadians at home and abroad. It is accountable to the communities and the partners it serves in the use of tax dollars and resources to accomplish this mandate.
The RCMP is an organization that serves Canadians well.
Providing police services to a country as large and diverse as Canada requires an organization that is both dynamic and well structured. The RCMP has changed with the times to deliver leading edge policing to all Canadians.
Created by Parliament by merging the Royal North West Mounted Police and the Dominion Police, the RCMP has a mandate to enforce laws, prevent crime, and maintain peace, order and security. Through agreements between the federal government and other bodies, the RCMP provides national, provincial, territorial and municipal police services across Canada.
Since 1996, the RCMP has followed a regional system of management, and is now divided into four regions. Each region is headed by an RCMP deputy commissioner. Additionally, the organization is sub-divided into 14 divisions plus its national headquarters in Ottawa, each of which is under the direction of a commanding officer. At the local level, there are more than 750 detachments.
For management purposes, the RCMP is structured along business lines. Overarching these business lines are strategic priorities that are reviewed periodically to focus both operational and organizational efforts on the goal of providing safe homes and communities for Canadians.
Today, these strategic priorities are organized crime, terrorism, youth, international police services, and serving aboriginal communities. Additionally, wherever possible, these priorities are supported through partnerships and integrated policing efforts.
National Police Services, managed by the RCMP on behalf of all Canadian law enforcement organizations, offers valuable resources to members of Canada’s 500 or so other law enforcement agencies.
These resources include databases—fingerprint, criminal record, forensic image, missing children, firearms—and other specialized services such as those offered by forensic laboratories, the Canadian Bomb Data Centre and the Automated Criminal Intelligence Information System.
The RCMP Contract Policing Services gives it jurisdiction over eight provinces, three territories, more than 200 municipalities, 65 aboriginal communities, three international airports and numerous smaller airports.
Providing police services to a country as large and diverse as Canada requires an organization that is both dynamic and well structured. The RCMP has changed with the times to deliver leading edge policing to all Canadians.
The RCMP's scope of operations is vast. The organization combats terrorism and organized crime and targets specific crimes related to the illicit drug trade. The RCMP is also concerned with economic crimes such as counterfeiting and credit card fraud. Increasingly, it is involved in investigating and prosecuting offences that threaten the integrity of Canada's national borders.
The RCMP also protects VIPs, including the Prime Minister and foreign dignitaries. Additionally, it provides the law enforcement communities with a full range of computer based security services.
While civilian members and public service employees join the RCMP as professionals in a specific area, all regular members begin their careers at the RCMP training academy, also known as Depot Division, in Regina, Saskatchewan. Here they become part of a troop and undergo an extensive 22 week basic training course under the guidance of some of the best police instructors in the world. Training methods include physical and endurance training, values, role playing, performance demonstrations, lectures, panel discussions and community interaction. There is even a small village on campus where various real life policing scenarios are enacted.
The program is tough and not all participants make it through but those who do have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities as members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. As they head off from Depot for six months of recruit field training under the supervision of a detachment coach, new Mounties do so knowing they have just received some of the best police training in the world.
Whether on highway patrol in the communities of Newfoundland, educating youth on the dangers of illicit drugs in the classrooms of rural Saskatchewan or intercepting illegal activities along the B.C. coast, the men and women of the RCMP can be found all across Canada. They provide daily policing services in communities, provincial and territorial policing services in every province except Ontario and Quebec, and federal policing services from coast to coast to coast.
The RCMP strives to fulfill its commitment to Canadians to keep our homes and communities safe.
The men and women of the RCMP have a long history of acting in the best interests of Canadians. This commitment is evident in every regular and civilian member, from the newest recruit all the way to the commissioner of the RCMP.
Starting from the moment they enter Depot, RCMP officers are called upon to strive for excellence in everything they do. To become an RCMP officer is to embark on a fulfilling career of public service with an organization that is recognized worldwide as being one of the best police services in the world.
Our world has changed a great deal since the frontier days and the role of the RCMP continues to evolve. Technological and demographic changes, economic uncertainty and diversity make the challenge of policing today very different from yesterday's job. In an ever-changing society that is more globalized, technology based and terrorized, our front line officers and senior managers who set operational and directional priorities must be prepared more than ever to respond in a timely and effective way to keep our citizens and our communities safe.
The men and women of the RCMP provide a vital service to Canadians and Canadian communities in keeping our citizens, our homes and our country safe and secure. The RCMP is recognized internationally for its commitment to excellence. We are indeed fortunate to have them as our national police service.