RCMP Pay Increase Exposed

RCMP PAY INCREASE: Baffling claims of staff shortages amidst a recession may finally make sense.

The RCMP say they are making a "hard recruitment push" every few years, and the story is always the same. “Not enough qualified candidates are applying” recently however there was a new twist. Claims were made by the organization stating they couldn’t attract new candidates because the pay was too low, officers were being worked until they quit and the rate at which officers were graduating depot didn’t match the rate at which previously hired police were retiring or leaving.

Most people who saw these articles may have felt bad the organizations needs were not being met, by today's lazy youth. However, I met these claims with immediate suspicion.

With an aging force serving duty for the last few decades eventual retirement should not be a surprise. Moreover with so many “highly skilled” degree carrying H.R personal, and seasoned leadership, this problem should not exist. Someone, somewhere at some point should have planned for this. Hiring is pretty straight forward, although they do certainly make it complicated.

If you have ever thought about applying, and researched Canada’s Federal Police force you must be familiar with their many controversies. Even Kris Jenner’s business is less mired in scandal. However it isn't always headlines that hit the hardest. Ask any relative, or friend and you will soon find many people in your social network have applied and the story is almost always the same. A fantastic man or woman, rejected over nothing. Great men and woman who are fair, athletic, educated and respected, tossed away. Comments then follow about how unfair the decision was, and how crooked the force is. Your immediate reaction to these “sob stories” may be the notion of “sour grapes”. This opinion is echoed through the application process by Recruiters, Polygraph Examiners and so on. However, one only has to look at the sheer volume of these accounts and recognize they can’t “all” be lying. But with a “supposed” organizational need so severe, one must ask why.

This mystery, I have to admit fascinated me. Without being a high ranking member I suppose it’s impossible to really understand what has taken place over the last two decades. However a recent news headline unraveled the story in my opinion.

“Treasury Board approves wage increase for RCMP officers.”

There isn’t much information in the above article, however the headline really says it all. As tax payers we have to wonder did the leaders of Canadas' federal police force play chicken with the government to get a raise?

“Follow the money!” Nancy Grace, famously chirps with her thick southern accent, and Bette Davis like sarcasm nearly every week on her self-titled T.V show broadcasting on HLN.

We must ask ourselves, and our leaders if the people who are trusted with public safety put both communities across Canada and their own Officers at risk by creating an artificial shortage. A ploy almost as old as the art of marketing itself.

Besides being a “good” explanation to the riddle, it may also be the only viable one. Given the amount of available workers, and the scale of the organizations recruitment campaigns something is amiss.

One thing is clear, the organization has further alienate thousands of millennial applicants, who already stepped out on a limb considering the vast amounts of mistrust, and anti-police sentiment among peers and the liberal media. Anti-policing sentiment is being aimed directly at the infamous new generation, this may be the "real life" connection it takes to soften the few "law and order" millennials against the system.

With misconduct cases up 158% according to CBC, is it also possible that a manufactured shortage could turn into a very real one.

It has been said “You reap what you sow”only time will tell. But the story so far has not been good.- Terry Phillips