How to restore the RCMP reputation and save $10 million on a 2- 3 year inquiry

Bumped...again- newer posts below-

The media pundits seem to be frothing at the bit and want to include everything -including the kitchen sink -when it comes to ironing out some of the RCMP's problems. The situation isn't as bad as they make it out to be. However Leadership happens to be one of the key issues though. So here is what should be done:

The next Commissioner has to be the most capable person around. Veteran Officers know the names of potential candidates which can be short listed. They don't necessarily have to be at The Deputy Commissioner Level. The new Commissioner should already be a member of the RCMP as there is much work to do and little time for steep learning curves.

The new Commissioner should have the same type of Status as the Auditor- General- reporting to Parliament. Too many conflicts of interest can arise when the Commissioner acts as a Deputy Minister.


A number of senior Management need to be replaced for obvious reasons.(sometimes power goes to people's heads and clouds their minds about doing the right thing. The whistleblowers knew what was the right thing to do- senior management should also have known.)

Incentives need to be found to retain or rehire senior investigators- 100's- since in the next 4 years about 40% of the members will have less than 5 years experience.

It would boost morale if whistleblowers like Read, Stenhouse and others Like Macaulay, Frizzell were offered reinstatment or given promotions.There are also others ,that the public never heard about, who were banished to the hinterland.These dedicated investigators weren't corrupt, incompetent, took bribes etc.In fact they were deep sixed for actually doing their job of trying to protect Canadians and only went public when stonewalled by senior brass.This set a terrible example to the rank and file- look the other way at wrongdoing?? There was too much concentration on bureaucratic paper shuffling and not enough going after the crooks.

While these don't cover everything, they will go a long way in once again restoring the integrity and reputation of our National Police force and it won't take several years either.The RCMP were understaffed and underfunded for years, compounding some of the problems.

Global cooling?

Taliban Jack and his sanctimonious Liberal cohorts have short memories-seems like they are more concerned about the Taliban than Canadian troops

Atlas Shrugs

RCMP Pension - Public Accounts Committee.......

"A co-ordinator of RCMP Access to Information requests dropped another bombshell on the committee.

Retired Sgt. Keith Estabrooks revealed the RCMP's file related to the pension saga has been tampered with, and incriminating memos he wrote about Gauvin removed.

Estabrooks, who had 12 years experience on the Access to Information law, said he was "removed from the file," after writing one damning memo in 2005, and was replaced by someone promoted from Gauvin's office.

Estabrooks testified he wrote a memo in 2005 to complain that the RCMP was unnecessarily delaying access to two unnamed requestors of key documents on the pension and insurance file: an internal audit, and the executive summary of the Ottawa Police Service investigation.

Estabrooks complained that Gauvin, whom he said was named in some of the material, was involved in vetting both access requests and deciding what should be withheld.

Estabrooks then told the committee his memo has "gone missing" from the file, though he kept a personal copy of it. The file was recently requested by the Commons committee.


Busson, who stepped in after Zaccardelli was forced out over his conflicting recollections about the force's actions in the Maher Arar scandal, has been almost uniformly praised for her efforts to clean things up internally. But she is adamant she will retire in June.

Busson testified that the government should look at someone from within the organization because there are people in the force who have the requisite leadership skills and knowledge of the RCMP's unique "culture."

"I think the RCMP has the leadership to take the force to the next level. We have some amazing young leaders within the RCMP that have gone up through the ranks," she said.

"Much as there needs to be a huge skill set around leadership, I believe we have that as well."

We agree there are many top leaders within..but it's too bad she wouldn't reconsider and stay.

Seems like there is a stench at the top.

Instead of going after crooks, the senior level seemed to be going after honest, dedicated ,experienced, investigators.Why?- because they figured they could get away with it-...until now?? Human Relations 101- don't abuse your best staff. One has to question the leadership abilities of those who would punish excellent investigators. Cpl Read And Staff Sgt Stenhouse apparently had a lot of company-and they were only trying to do their jobs.

Instead of these people being punished, it would be a show of good faith if they were promoted or re-instated.

A reminder.....Friends of Science- Kyoto- climate change.....

Caroline Glick- Winograd report

"Prime Minister Ehud Olmert saw the thousands of reservists organizing hunger strikes and demonstrations, and families whose sons had been killed, and residents of the North all joining together. He heard their call for his resignation and he did what any self-respecting political hack would do in his position. He formed a commission.

Generally speaking, commissions are formed in times of political crisis by politicians and other interested parties that wish to kick the can down the road. The hope is that by the time the commission publishes its report no one will remember the crisis that spurred its formation, and so no price will have to be paid by whoever failed in their duties and so fomented the crisis in the first place. "

Bill Gross- PIMCO- Investment Outlook

Rush Limbaugh-....12-Year-Old: Why Did Bill Clinton Do Nothing About Terrorism?

Lessons from Madrid and London

"Given its limited resources, MI5’s decision not to divert human resources to investigate individuals that, while clearly interested in jihadi activities and intentioned in committing crimes to support them, did not constitute an immediate threat, was probably a sound one and second guessing it today is as easy as useless.

But here lies the problem: the MI5 should not have been stretched so thin. As the MI5 correctly points out, “when the fertiliser plot took place it was one of 50 networks of which the Service was aware” and the agency could not possibly start a new investigation. The MI5 was simply understaffed to deal with a domestic threat of that magnitude. And the problem is not just a British one."

Melanie Phillips.........When will the British stop appeasing terror?

"The fact is that Al Qaeda now sees Britain as both its principal target and its principal recruiting ground. By its own admission, MI5 is monitoring no fewer than 200 terrorist networks, 1,600 identified individual terrorists and 30 known terrorist plots. It says British Muslims are being indoctrinated with horrifying speed, and more terrorists are being recruited every day.

In truth, as our leading counter-terrorist police officer, Peter Clarke, said last week, this country is facing a terrorist threat of a nature and scale it has simply never seen before. This terrorism is part of a global holy war and the dreadful thing is that it is recruiting British-born boys as its foot-soldiers against their own fellow citizens."

NYSun- Wolfowitz and the World Bank

"To those who are rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect that Paul Wolfowitz may be toppled from the presidency of the World Bank by a Euro-putsch designed to seize control of the world's largest public lending institution, we commend the dispatches our Benny Avni has been filing out of Turtle Bay. It turns out that the United Nations is riddled with arrangements that, in sharp contrast to the fully disclosed and proper example established by Mr. Wolfowitz, tempt an investigation. This may stem from the ingrown culture of the world body, but those who set the heavens in motion should not be surprised when their own satellites fall to ground".

What the RCMP does best - it's time they focused on the crooks instead of bureaucratic paper shuffling

Public Accounts Committee- RCMP Pension hearing- looks like housecleaning needed at the highest level

One of the first RCMP officers to blow the whistle on the force's pension fund scandal says he was punished for speaking out, while crucial documents relating to the fund are missing, a Commons committee has heard. ...

"I was accused of fraudulent leave, unauthorized travel, incompetence for my job," he said, his voice wavering. "I received no performance pay and I was effectively fired."


His testimony contradicts that of former commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli, who has said he never transferred or demoted officers for speaking out.

Rogerson is not the only Mountie to claim he was punished for looking into the fund's mismanagement.


Some examples:

Original whistleblower Denise Revine went on sick leave;
Staff Sgt. Mike Frizzell was transferred; and,
Chief Supt. Fraser MacAulay, who persisted in asking questions, got sent to the Dept. of National Defence for two years.

More background here

"Critics Blast Former CIA Director's Tell-All Book on Iraq War; High-Priced Healing"

"ZAHN: Until; what period of time were you...

SCHEUER: From December of '95 until June of '99.

ZAHN: OK.

So, the point that he makes over and over again in this book is that he had this briefing that he -- he gave Condoleezza Rice in July, before the 9/11 attacks, saying that there were going to be simultaneous attacks on the United States; there would be mass casualties.

He alleges that Condi Rice dropped the ball. And the question I have got to ask, could he have gone directly to the president at that point, which he said is not the way you deal with the chain of the command at the White House?

SCHEUER: Well, I think that's a disingenuous claim by Mr. Tenet.

If the DCI wants to talk to the president, that happens, unless the president is an idiot, because the DCI is his primary counselor on intelligence matters. If we have a DCI that can't talk to the president, the whole country has a problem.

But Mr. Tenet is also being disingenuous. And this is a very pro-Democratic Party book. You have to remember that.

Mr. -- even if he briefed Mr. Bush in June or July or August of 2001, we did not know where Osama bin Laden was at that time. We could not have killed him. Mr. Tenet -- or the CIA gave Mr. Clinton 10 different chances to either capture or kill him in the 1990s. And he lets Mr. Clinton and all that slimy crowd around Mr. Clinton slide on the fact that they refused to protect America when they had the chance.

So, you can blame Mr. Bush for a lot of things -- and I absolutely carry no brief for him -- but, if you review the chances that Clinton had to take care of the bin Laden problem, they -- Mr. Bush had virtually none compared to Mr. Clinton".

Legitimizing Iran.....

"Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says she might talk with Iran this week at a Mideast conference on Iraq. This would end a 28-year break in direct contact with Iran's rogue regime. It's a bad idea."

"In 2007, it is disgraceful to see conservative leaders collapsing under a burden we promised to bear."

The Auditor-General's May report should be out about 2:00pm today