RCMP senior executives to consider new backup policy

The shooting death of Cst. Douglas Scott in Kimmirut Nov. 5 has prompted calls for the end of one-person RCMP patrols.

The widow of Cst. Christopher Worden, the Mountie shot and killed in Hay River, NWT in early October, told CBC last week the Mounties need a mandatory backup policy to protect northern members.

"It is unfortunate," said Jodie Worden. "I don't believe Cst. Scott should have been in a two-member detachment with only his six months training under his belt."

RCMP Supt. Tim Cogan told reporters last week Scott had been in Kimmirut barely a month and had spent the previous five months in Iqaluit for "recruit field training" after graduating from the RCMP training depot in Regina.

While in Iqaluit, Scott travelled on patrol with more experienced Mounties. In Kimmirut, there was only one other member.

But Cogan rejected any suggestion Scott might have been too young to be stationed in Kimmirut by himself.

"I don't know if it's a factor of age rather than maturity," he said. "Cst. Scott displayed all the maturity of an older person."

Cogan said if a new Mountie has displayed talent "that's the measure we use."

Staff Sgt. Ken Legge, of the RCMP's staff relations representative program, said a backup policy had already been drafted by the time Scott was shot. It is to go before the RCMP's senior executive Dec. 3, Legge said.

"One of the big changes will be it will remove the discretion on some calls" for Mounties to respond alone to incidents involving weapons and other dangers, he said.

Legge said such a policy could increase the number of Mounties each detachment is required to have on staff. That could be expensive for the Government of Nunavut, which spends $21 million per year on police services for the territory.

Legge said it's impossible to know if such a policy would have prevented Scott's death.

"This isn't the time to be second-guessing anybody's actions," he said. "We've got a tragedy on our hands and a family that's grieving."