NDP: RCMP audit exposes incompetence.

From the Air India Inquiry evidence it is not just the RCMP that suffers from incompetence, the CSIS displays its own fair share of incompetence. As Comartin claims there is no proper centralised oversight of the RCMP. The recommendations of the Arar inquiry in many cases have not yet been acted upon even though the government is committed to them.

RCMP audit exposes incompetence, says NDP
Last Updated: Friday, September 21, 2007 | 7:36 AM ET
CBC News
The RCMP has not been keeping track of all its national security criminal investigations, a recent internal audit says, as the NDP accused the force of "incompetence."

The report, which was published in July, found that RCMP headquarters was in the dark about several national security investigations opened by its own divisions, and also suffered from a staffing shortfall.

NDP public safety critic Joe Comartin said the lack of a centralized monitoring process within Canada's national police force to ensure accountability meant the RCMP was operating inefficiently.

"There could have been three or four of those [divisions] investigating the same matter and not knowing that that was going on elsewhere in the country," Comartin said.

"Again, that's a level of incompetence that really can't be tolerated."

The internal audit also found that there were too few officers working on cases, and that most of the staff with the Integrated National Security Enforcement Teams require more training.



Fewer than half of the officers on the teams attended the RCMP's national security training courses, and even fewer took courses in anti-terrorism legislation, the audit found.

'We changed that policy 100 per cent'
The authors of the report urged the force to address the problems.

Assistant commissioner Mike McDonnell said the RCMP was acting on the recommendations. As of four months ago, he said, headquarters started keeping tabs on all national security operations.

"We changed that policy 100 per cent and have taken out any area of ambiguity with respect to reporting, and directed that the reporting will be centrally controlled," he said. McDonnell also said 233 staff would receive the national security training they need by next spring.

As for the staffing shortfall, McDonnell said the force's budget would need to be more than doubled in order to meet the need — a concession that Comartin said would likely lead nowhere. Instead, Comartin said it might be time for CSIS to take over all national security activities.

Lorne Waldman, one of the lawyers who represented Syrian-born Canadian Maher Arar during the inquiry into Arar's deportation and torture in a Syrian jail, agreed that throwing money at the RCMP might not be the solution.

"They've had five years to correct the mistakes that happened, that led to Mr. Arar's deportation," he said. "Five years into the process, I'm not at all convinced they've come very far in correcting the errors that were made."