Stockwell Day lit up my TV screen awhile ago, announcing the appointment of a new RCMP Commissioner. This is a weird one:
"OTTAWA -- William Elliott is the new commissioner of the RCMP, taking over as Canada's top police officer at a time when the Mounties are under fire from external critics and even within their own ranks.
Elliott, a senior bureaucrat in the Public Safety Department which oversees the RCMP, is the first civilian to take the reins of the RCMP since the force was created in 1873."
The appointee, William Elliott, has some background in the Coast Guard and security, but technically he's a career civil servant -- a civilian, definitely not a cop. He's never done a cop's job or understands cop issues. I can't see him being able to command much respect from most of the rank-and-file cops he's been appointed to manage.
It's kind of an odd appointment in another way, too. The RCMP is supposed to be an organization apart from the government, giving it the independence to investigate the government itself if necessary. The appointment of a non-cop, government insider makes that relationship a little closer, which doesn't bode well for the upcoming cleanup of the RCMP. I'd rather let the mounties clean their own house than do it under the direction of Stephen Harper.
It's kind of an odd appointment in another way, too. The RCMP is supposed to be an organization apart from the government, giving it the independence to investigate the government itself if necessary. The appointment of a non-cop, government insider makes that relationship a little closer, which doesn't bode well for the upcoming cleanup of the RCMP. I'd rather let the mounties clean their own house than do it under the direction of Stephen Harper.
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