(Halifax) Nearly two years after the RCMP imposed a moratorium on selling its decommissioned vehicles to the public, federal policing has released an internal audit report that reveals flaws in the scrapping.
Posted yesterday at 6:28 p.m.
The report was written in response to two cases in Nova Scotia involving former Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) vehicles, which were used by criminals to impersonate police officers – including the shooting of April 2020, which left 22 dead.
“The safety of the public and officers rests in part on everyone’s ability to distinguish a police vehicle actively used by the RCMP from one that has been modified to resemble an RCMP vehicle,” the report said. .
The review, dated July 2022, finds there was inconsistent evidence in RCMP records to show that the vehicles were fully decommissioned prior to sale by GCSurplus, the federal agency charged with ” alienation”.
Additionally, the review found that some of the vehicles sold through GCSurplus had “marking elements” (decals) and equipment that could identify them as ex-law enforcement vehicles. And there was no formal agreement between the RCMP and GCSurplus for the removal of the decals.
The audit also revealed that there was no national list of equipment and markings that should be removed from decommissioned vehicles. Although decommissioning is covered in RCMP manuals, the review found that the technical aspects of removing equipment and decals were not documented.
“If the controls are not working as intended, there is a risk of non-compliance with policies and an increased danger of damage to the reputation of the RCMP if improperly decommissioned vehicles are misused after they have been removed. sale”, concludes the audit report.
However, “it appears from interviews with staff […] that this process varies from region to region,” the audit points out. The report therefore recommends better cost tracking and monitoring of the decommissioning control process.
There could be a way to do better, admits the RCMP.
In response, RCMP Director of Finance Jen O’Donoughue agrees with the audit’s findings and acknowledges “there would be opportunities to strengthen national guidelines, decommissioning standards and related controls”, indicates the report.
In the meantime, enhanced inspections have been developed and an independent firm has been hired to determine how police services in Canada dispose of their vehicles and to identify best practices.
According to the report, the RCMP has the largest police fleet in North America, consisting of approximately 12,000 road vehicles, 1,500 of which are taken out of service each year.
On April 18 and 19, 2020, a man disguised as an RCMP officer fatally shot and killed 22 people in Nova Scotia during a 13-hour run. For most of that time, he was driving a decommissioned police car, which he had modified to look every bit like a patrol car.
In January 2021, then Public Safety Minister Bill Blair suspended the sale of decommissioned RCMP vehicles, two days after another man was arrested in Nova Scotia for allegedly impersonating a police officer while driving a vehicle modified to look like an unmarked police car.
Two months later, the RCMP’s National Fleet Management asked the GCSurplus agency to do a better job of removing the decals, which included grinding off the reflective markings on vehicles destined for scrap.
And in April 2021, Nova Scotia passed legislation to prevent the use, possession, sale and manufacture of police items, uniforms, vehicle markings and vehicle equipment.
The audit focused on the decommissioning of the 1er January 2018 to December 31, 2020, light police vehicles, including pursuit vehicles and special duty vehicles. Thirty eliminated vehicles were assessed for compliance with the rules.
Of the 27 vehicles sold, 19 had their decals stripped by GCSurplus. However, neither file contained evidence that the RCMP verified that the decals had in fact been completely removed before the vehicles went on sale.