Police Week 2005-to those who serve on our behalf- many thanks!!

Canadians are grateful to the dedicated service of our law enforcement agencies since
they are prepared to lay down their lives to protect Canadians as unfortunately we've seen again this year. However it would be nice if the government dispatched with its smoke and mirrors campaign of saying that all is under control. The various agencies are desperately short of manpower. Demands after 9/11 for their services have been increased by at least 10% which would mean the RCMP would need at least an additional minimum 2000 officers just for that alone. The government says that they have put $10 billion into security. 2000 officers would cost about $ $200 million/yr. How many have actually been hired with that $10 billion? It's not like the government is short of money or anything as we've seen recently.

We have thousands of dedicated officers who do an outstanding job every day, just look at the effort Toronto Police and other law enforcement agencies put into finding the girl found on a child porn site on the internet. Instead of hollow platitudes, it might be an idea if the government gave them the necessary manpower needed to protect Canadians instead of just talking about it.



http://www.parl.gc.ca/37/2/parlbus/chambus/house/debates/080_2003-03-28/han080_1230-e.htm

As the CPA pointed out in its fact sheet, the 2002 federal budget allotted
> several millions of dollars in new spending for national security. However,
> only $576 million spread over six years was dedicated funding allotted to
> the RCMP. This amounted to only $87 million per year. Translated into human
> resources, it allowed for the hiring of only 446 full time employees for the
> RCMP, not over this year, not over next year, but over the next six years.
>
> Need I remind the government that its slash and gouging of the RCMP that
> occurred in 1993 resulted in 2,200 positions being lost, a loss that has
> never been recouped despite years of protests and requests for increased
> spending.
>
> Last year the commissioner of the RCMP openly admitted that 2,000 RCMP
> officers were withdrawn from other enforcement duties to respond to the
> terrorism crisis. These officers were taken from assignments previously
> considered to be priorities, such as fighting organized crime and providing
> frontline policing in Canadian communities. Many of those jobs were left
> unattended. In the commissioner's own words these files were “put on the
> back burner” while the RCMP attempted to apprehend terrorists suspected of
> using this country as a staging ground.
>
> According to the CPA, of the complement of approximately 15,000 RCMP
> officers, 9,000 were assigned to municipal and provincial contracting
> responsibilities. Of the remaining 6,000, 2,000 or one-third of them were
> taken from other law enforcement responsibilities and reassigned to the
> terrorism file.
>
> Minimally, 2,000 additional officers are needed to service the
> deficiencies that are being felt the hardest at the community level. The
> RCMP provides federal policing to all Canadians as well as services under
> contracts to all provinces, except Ontario and Quebec, the three
> territories, 200 municipalities, and more than 190 first nations
> communities.
>