Canada Day looked a little different this year, but masked RCMP cadets were still able to perform a flag ceremony at the academy. (RCMP Depot Division/Facebook)

By Trevor Redden

Academy Impacted

RCMP academy slowed by COVID-19, focus continues on serving the North

Sep 2, 2020 | 12:47 PM

After a shutdown in March due to COVID-19, things are slowly returning to normal at RCMP Academy, Depot Division in Regina.

At the time of shutdown, there were 16 troops training at the academy, with 32 cadets in each troop. By late May, a systematic process was underway to resume operations and begin to graduate cadets for their postings in communities across Canada.

Assistant Commissioner Jas Breton, Depot Division’s commanding officer, worked closely with partners to oversee the reopening and detailed the methodology to bring back two troops at first.

“Of the 16 troops, they were at various stages in training. The most senior troop was only four weeks from graduating, and the least senior troop still had 24 weeks left in their program. We’re in the process now where we’ve returned 12 troops and things are going really well,” Breton said.

Since the resumption of training, three troops have graduated and 78 new constables received their postings across the country.

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Breton said it has been a challenging process to bring troops back safely and has forced the academy to lean on connections across the country and across the world. Committees have been set up with other academies going through a similar process, and best practices have been shared back and forth.

“In terms of training, we’ve restricted access to the academy for only individuals that need to be here on any particular day,” Breton said. He added all are temperature checked before entering the facility, cadets are placed in single rooms, and masks are worn when people need to be in close proximity to each other.

The shutdown and ensuing restrictions will no doubt have an impact on the number of RCMP constables able to go out and fill roles across the country in the short term, and that’s a problem depot is meeting head-on.

“The goal of the RCMP was to train 40 troops of 32 cadets, so a little over 1,200 cadets would have potentially graduated. Now it looks like we’re only going to be able to graduate probably about 16 troops this year,” Breton said. “It definitely will impact the country. The vacancy rates will increase a little bit as we go forward, but again we’re looking into the future in 2021/2022 where we can bring it back to maybe 32 to 34 troops.”

Focus on the North

With a drop in the supply of new constables, the focus will be on making sure the areas that are most in need are served first, including remote rural locations.

“I think they would look at ensuring northern communities are filled first. I say that because typically there are smaller communities in the North, so in order to make sure that the communities are served properly they would look at staffing those positions and making sure they’re not low in terms of their HR needs,” Breton said.

Another way to ensure that northern communities are well looked after with a continued focus on representation by the RCMP.

“From a recruiting perspective we’re very interested and aggressive in trying to attract all nationalities throughout the country. Certainly there are strategies nationally to encourage Indigenous individuals to join the organization,” Breton said.

Finally, at a time when police are under more scrutiny than ever, graduates from the academy are encouraged to do everything they can to build connections in the community that they arrive in.

“That’s a big, big emphases of our training program is understanding that in order to have success as police officers from coast-to-coast, it is all about community building and working with communities. That’s something we encourage our graduates to do as soon as they get to communities, they have to get out there and meet people,” Breton explained. “If it means chief and council, if it means the mayor, whatever it is, our big encouragement and expectation is for our police officers to work with communities and foster the safety of the communities. It’s a team effort.”

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Trevor.Redden@jpbg.ca