RCMP’s B.C. commander to leave for government job
VICTORIA — The B.C. government has tapped a trail-blazing First Nations RCMP leader to head its policing division.
Brenda Butterworth-Carr, the deputy commissioner in charge of the B.C. RCMP, is set to leave the Mounties to become the government’s new director of police services, the province confirmed Thursday.
Butterworth-Carr is the commanding officer of the RCMP in B.C., having worked her way up over a 30-year policing career from a native reserve constable to head of the criminal operations division, director of the national Aboriginal policing unit and commander of the Saskatchewan contingent of the RCMP.
As a First Nations woman from Yukon she broke new ground in RCMP headquarters in her leadership roles.
Butterworth-Carr’s new job in the B.C. government, which begins March 5, will see her oversee provincial policy on municipal police services and the provincial contract with the RCMP.
The appointment, however, isn’t without controversy.
The RCMP confirmed that Butterworth-Carr is set to retire March 4, meaning she will begin her new government job the next day.
Having the RCMP’s top officer in B.C. immediately begin working on policing policy for the province creates a conflict-of-interest that may provide the government with questionable advice, said Simon Fraser University criminologist Rob Gordon.
“If it’s a straight transfer over, as appears to be the case with Butterworth-Carr, that’s not a very appropriate gap, someone just sliding from one senior position to another,” he said. “There’s no indication they are going to be thinking independently or creatively about police services in the province. They are just arguably going to be ticking the boxes in support of the RCMP.”
The move comes at a key time in the relationship between the RCMP and B.C. The province’s largest city, Surrey, plans to leave the RCMP and form its own municipal police force, following a key election promise from Mayor Doug McCallum in last year’s municipal election.
However, Surrey must first submit a plan to the province to leave the RCMP. That plan needs the approval of Solicitor-General Mike Farnworth, who will be relying upon the advice of Butterworth-Carr. It leaves the B.C. government in the position of asking the recently departed head of the B.C. RCMP to analyze whether Surrey should leave the RCMP.
“It’s going to be wonderful to watch it all play out,” said Gordon.
The government’s departing director of police services, Clayton Pecknold, is slated to become the new independent police complaints commissioner later this year.