RCMP RECRUITMENT VIDEO SLAMMED AS BEING ANTIQUATED.
‘Automaton’ culture on display in video
A new RCMP recruitment video that shows cadets being barked at by a drill instructor and made to adhere to a strict hierarchical command structure is evidence that the force is still steeped in antiquated ways of doing things, some observers say.
Many assessments have knocked the RCMP’s paramilitary style of training and governance, which emphasizes deference to authority and discipline, as a hindrance to modernizing the force.
“Very obviously, there’s a major disconnect between the recommendations about the way in which the organization should be proceeding and what it’s actually doing,” said Rob Gordon, a criminology professor at Simon Fraser University.
“It’s unfortunate that we’re still using these 19thcentury techniques.”
The recruitment video, posted about a month ago on the RCMP’s YouTube channel, opens with images of cadets at the training academy in Regina standing or marching in formation. A sergeant major tells them in a stern voice their lives as civilians are “over.”
“Your first name from now on is ‘Cadet.’ My first name — and you can pick one of two — is either ‘Sir’ or ‘Sergeant Major.’ Your hours of work are from the time your feet will hit the floor in the morning until the time your ass hits the bed at night. You will be tested at every turn. Trust me, you will.”
The video cuts quickly between images of cadets doing various running and fitness drills. At one point the video cuts to a drill instructor yelling and forcefully slamming the tip of a “drill cane” (sometimes referred to as a “swagger stick”) onto the gymnasium floor, sending a group of cadets sprinting in the opposite direction. There are also images of cadets learning to use their firearms, making arrests and driving through an obstacle course.
“I want to see what you’re made of,” the voiceover continues. “Will you make mistakes? Damn right, you will. Will I correct them? Damn right, I will.”
At the end of the video, the sergeant major asks if the cadets have any questions.
“No, sir,” they respond in unison.
Experts say while a paramilitary structure exists to some degree in other Canadian police agencies, it remains very much a part of the RCMP’s cultural DNA.
Rather than signalling that the force is interested in recruiting men and women who can think critically, the video instead seems to promote the production of “automatons who will simply respond to barked orders,” Gordon said.
Christian Leuprecht agrees. The national security expert at the Royal Military College and Queen’s University says there’s no question new recruits need to learn how to slap on cuffs or kick down a door.
But there seems to be too much emphasis on rote learning — how to dress properly, how to march in formation, how to do a takedown — and not enough focus on original thinking and educating cadets on the complexities of the communities they are going to serve, he said.
“It sort of de-intellectualizes the force.”
Ten years ago, a task force formed by the federal government was highly critical of the RCMP’s governance structure and culture.
“The current paramilitary, chain-of-command management structure at the RCMP works for a small police force but not a $3-billion enterprise,” Ontario lawyer David Brown, the task force’s chair, said at the time.
Some academic literature has found that while paramilitary-style training can help foster team cohesion and loyalty, it can also lead to an “us versus them” mentality that young officers bring with them out into the community.
Angela Workman-Stark, a retired RCMP chief superintendent and Athabasca University professor who teaches organizational behaviour, said the force would’ve been better off putting out a video focusing on “the meaningful roles the police perform in society.”
“Perhaps the intention might have been to stress the importance of discipline and standards, but … the end result is likely a reinforcement of a paramilitary structure that is not conducive to the realities of policing today,” she said in an email.
This rigid power structure can make it difficult for officers to raise concerns about harassment or other problems because of a concern they could become a target, a report by the RCMP watchdog found earlier this year.