RCMP reputation has taken a dive: poll
Posted January 2, 2013 9:46 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – A new poll suggests public confidence in the RCMP has dipped over the last five years, especially at the senior management level.
The poll, which was conducted by Ipsos Reid for Global News and Postmedia News, finds 46 per cent of Canadians believe senior managers are doing a great or good job.
Global News is reporting that is down from 61 per cent in 2007.
“I’m not surprised at all that the public takes a look at this organization and says we don’t have a lot of confidence in it,” says police psychologist Dr. Mike Webster. “The public can put two and two together and understand that if the organization doesn’t treat its members very well, when the members are out on the street, they aren’t going to treat the public very well.”
The approval rating is even lower in British Columbia where two in three people say senior management is doing a fair or terrible job.
Officers fared much better than their supervisors; nearly 70 per cent of Canadians say they are doing a great or good job.
“The young people that put on that uniform every day, their hearts are in the right place and they’re out there to serve the community,” says Webster. “However, it’s very difficult for them to do that when the RCMP is stretched so thin and its tasks far outstrip its resources.”
Only 39 per cent of British Columbians polled say the RCMP treats its members fairly.
This comes after several female officers who claim they were sexually harassed filed a class action law suit against the force.
