They are understaffed by at least 2200 officers and probably more since demands have been higher after 9/11.The Liberals were running the government

for 13 years. At one time the RCMP were the premier crime fighting organization in the world.Perhaps in the next few years the problems will be adequately addressed by the Conservative govenment so that once again their reputation can be restored.Anybody who knows anything about policing knows that the emphasis was on bureaucratic paper shuffling for the past number of years because of lack of resources.Otherwise there would have been major busts like last week on a much more regular basis, instead they were few and far between.


"To be sure, part of the Mounties' problem is underfunding. Near the beginning of the 1990s, the Mounties' annual budget was $1.24-billion; at the end of that decade, it was just $1.2-billion. After inflation, that amounted to a real cut of over 15%. The force is under-manned by at least 1,000 officers; has vacancies of up to 25% in its special national units such as criminal intelligence and counterterrorism; has been forced to close detachments for lack of funding and is able to investigate only about one-third of the organized criminal activity in the country. Those are shortfalls the federal government must make up with more money."

[RCMP Mounties understaffed underfunded resources headquarters criminals terrorists intelligence national security organized crime customs immigration proceeds of crime drugs units reputation]