| Description: |
A Community Constable (CC) is an armed, uniformed peace officer at the rank of Special Constable member. Their primary focus is engaging their communities in active crime prevention/reduction activities, and building positive relationships between their communities and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). CCs enhance (not replace) the work of general duty RCMP constables; they also have the capacity to provide tactical, enforcement and investigational support to other RCMP officers if required. Following training in Depot, CCs return to their communities to complement and support the work of general duty constables in their detachment. They do not have the mandate to take on all the duties of general duty constables (such as leading in-depth investigations).
Community Constables bring a valuable knowledge of the geography, culture and language in the communities they serve, and remain in those communities for the duration for their time as a CC.
Three RCMP Division’s participated in the original pilot, G, D, and K, with a total of six Aboriginal Community Constables engaged
The Aboriginal Community Constable Program was officially rebranded as the Community Constable Program in August 2012, and the pilot was extended to 2015, allowing the program to be opened up to any community that demonstrates a need for the program.
The program allows the RCMP to attract, develop and retain persons with specific linguistic, cultural and community skills that go beyond those taught at Depot, and enable the RCMP to tailor its policing services to specific, community-identified needs. |
| Objective: |
The CC Program addresses community issues that regular members may not be able to address immediately due to competing Operational duties. CC’s provide regular members with local knowledge of the community in which they serve. Because they remain in the community throughout their career, the community benefits from a continuous service unaffected by transfers of regular members. CC’s also act as role models for youth in their communities. |
| Outcomes: |
Positive feedback has been received to date from all the communities served by the CC Program. Given their cultural links to their communities, CCs are able to provide more effective crime prevention, community engagement and crime reduction, allowing police officers to focus on other frontline duties. A formal evaluation is planned for the end of the pilot. This evaluation will help in determining whether the Program should be continued or even expanded nationally. |
| Resources: |
The CC Program did not require significant funding to put in place. A design team was created to develop curriculums for the program. The team included a curriculum designer, syllabus administrator, training analyst and several police subject matter experts. |
| Pillars: |
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| Province: |
Manitoba |
| Keywords: |
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| Record Entry Date: |
2013-08-01 |