Opening Statement to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts

Royal Canadian Mounted Police - Services for Canada's Law Enforcement Community
(Chapter 7 - April 2000 Report of the Auditor General)

Mr. Chairman, thank you for this opportunity to present the results of our audit of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's services for Canada's law enforcement community.

The RCMP provides a range of special services that are essential to the effective operation of law enforcement in Canada. These services include fingerprint identification, criminal history records, forensic laboratories, criminal intelligence and police training. They also include a system called CPIC, the Canadian Police Information Centre, that makes it possible for users to directly access a wide range of data banks covering drivers, vehicles, stolen property, wanted persons and criminal records.

These services are used by the police, courts, parole boards, correctional institutions, federal agencies such as customs and immigration, and, in certain cases, the public. For law enforcement to work well, these services must be delivered in a timely manner, with an acceptable level of quality. The information systems must be up-to-date and available 24 hours a day.

The audit concluded that these services did not always meet the needs of users. For example, DNA analysis took too long, averaging 183 days during the period under study. Important criminal cases did not receive appropriate priority action, especially those cases where an initial DNA screening could have been crucial in identifying a suspect. The full potential for DNA as an investigative tool was not being used because DNA analysis was being limited to only the most important cases.

There are backlogs of more than two months in entering data into the criminal history records and some files have taken over five months. At the time of our audit, the backlog for entering fingerprints into the system stood at 25,000 and was taking about 25 days. Another concern is the delays in responding to requests for security checks on a variety of individuals: volunteers who will work with children; applicants for jobs in both the public and private sectors; and applicants for visas, citizenship and landed immigrant status. In addition, CPIC is unavailable nationally or regionally 11 percent of the time. This has prevented police officers from making almost four million queries and represents almost $18 million in productive time lost.

The audit report includes a number of recommendations on how the RCMP can improve its management and its turnaround times. The RCMP needs to set performance targets and determine priorities, rationalize its laboratory service, improve its performance measurement, establish a national advisory committee and communicate better with its users.

The RCMP has responded positively to the recommendations in the chapter to improve these services. Mr. Chairman, the Committee may wish to inquire of the RCMP on progress made to date in implementing corrective measures.

The RCMP's expenditure on services to the Canadian law enforcement community is $120 million, which is only a small part of the estimated $10-15 billion spent on the criminal justice system. Nevertheless, these services are the backbone and must receive the attention that they deserve. Wise investment in these services will have a significant impact on enhancing public safety and reducing costs downstream in the criminal justice system. There needs to be clear agreements among all players on the level of service, funding arrangements, user input, management and accountability. There needs to be improvement and it must be sustainable.

Mr. Chairman, that concludes my opening statement and we would be pleased to answer your Committee's questions.