RCMP computer report 'designed to hide,' MP says
The RCMP says it has figured out what went wrong when it bought two different computer systems that can't communicate with each other, but a Liberal MP from British Columbia says the Mounties' newly released report reads as gobbledegook.
The decision to run incompatible computer systems — one purchased for B.C. in 2003 and another for the rest of Canada the following year — is costing taxpayers an extra $9 million every year, according to internal RCMP document obtained by the CBC last year under an Access to Information request.
Following complaints, the RCMP conducted an investigation, and the results are now public. But there are new complaints about the report itself.
Ujjal Dosanjh (Liberal Vancouver South) said he read it, but it's still impossible to tell what went wrong after the Mounties decided to replace their outdated computer technology with two separate record management systems.
"This is clearly designed to hide, not to reveal how the RCMP works," he said.
RCMP spokesman Sgt. Pat Flood cited provisions in the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act, commonly referred to as whistleblower legislation, as to why certain information was not released to the public.
"The provisions in the act require us to retain confidentiality so certain information and details, including complainants' names, cannot be made public," she said.
More training sought
The report lists six "corrective actions" taken since the purchase of the incompatible computer systems.
Among them is a measure stating that Mounties in management must now attend courses and complete an exam before being given the authority to spend millions of dollars.
The report says the RCMP has made "much progress and undertaken a number of initiatives that have transformed, strengthened and modernized its governance framework."
"Central to this, is the RCMP's ongoing development and implementation of a more robust project management/project delivery regime," it says.
Internal documents obtained last year by the CBC showed several officers repeatedly warned senior managers the decision to set up the two systems would cost a fortune and create major hurdles for Mounties trying to share information about cases.
One officer felt so strongly about the waste and duplication, he filed a complaint under the federal government's new whistleblower legislation.
B.C. system defended
RCMP Insp. Tim Shields, who works in B.C., said the system in that province is now working very well: British Columbia is now the only jurisdiction in Canada or the United States where all police officers are on the same case records management system, whether they work for the RCMP or another municipal force.
"This way, RCMP detachments in Surrey, Prince George or Campbell River can quickly and easily share and retrieve information with the 11 municipal police departments in cities like Vancouver, Abbotsford and Delta," he said.
Despite bugs early on, Shields said, it is becoming easier for Mounties in B.C. and the rest of Canada to share information about cases between their two separate computer systems.
Under the whistleblower law, all findings of wrongdoing must be made public, and on Friday the RCMP released on the internet the results of its investigation.
In short, it says an unnamed person, at an undisclosed time, spent more than they were authorized to on an unnamed information technology project.
The senior manager of the RCMP who was found to have "exceeded their financial authority" has since retired from the force, according to the report.
Original article on CBC website
The RCMP disclosure
Disclosure of Information on Founded Wrongdoing 2009/2010
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Whistleblower protection law used to conceal facts
The Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act (PSDPA), which is supposed to protect whistleblowers and ensure that wrongdoing is exposed, is being used instead to obscure the nature and extent of wrongdoing and to protect the wrongdoers from being publicly identified.
This article illustrates how, when departments uncover wrongdoing, they publish minimal, virtually meaningless information about what happened, and then fall back on the confidentiality provisions of the PSDPA to rebuff requests for more details. But these provisions were supposed to protect whistleblowers, not the wrongdoers.
This same tactic was used just months ago by Public Works. See Fraud shuts down federal auction website
It's ironic that this whistleblower protection scheme, which was supposed to create greater transparency and accountability in government, is itself shrouded in impenetrable secrecy. For example, when the Integrity Commissioner investigates and discovers wrongdoing, everything discovered during her investigations is shielded from Access to Information, not just for a few years or decades but forever.
All that the public will ever find out is what the Commissioner reveals in her report to Parliament. How much will she choose to disclose? No-one knows, because during three years of operation her office has not found a single case of wrongdoing in the entire federal public service.
David Hutton