Retired RCMP officer calls for public inquiry in Moncton shooting

Retired RCMP officer Terry McKee is still calling for an inquiry to be held in the June 2014shooting deaths of three RCMP officers and wounding of two others in Moncton.

• External review of Moncton RCMP shootings demanded by critics
• RCMP head should resign in wake of Labour Code charges, says police group
• RCMP review of Justin Bourque shootings faces criticism

Before his retirement in 2013,McKeesupervised two of the RCMP officers who were killed, and he has been critical of the RCMP's handling of the incident.

Information Morning - Moncton18:17RCMP report

Improving officer safety following the 2014 Moncton shootings; retired officer Terry McKee and Assistant Commissioner Roger Brown weigh in.

"I think we're all aware the labour code charges have named, on the information, the RCMP as the defendant," said McKee, in reference to the four charges laid against the national forcealleging it hadviolated the health and safety provisions of the Canada Labour Code in connection with the shootings.

"To me, being a cop all my life, I was always responsible to investigate to find the individual or individuals that were responsibleand, in this particular case,I see no difference," said McKee.

"There were individuals that made fatal decisions not to roll out the carbines in a timely fashion especially after Mayerthorpe and locally here," he said.

The charges include failing to provide officers with the appropriate use of force equipment and training. A plea will be entered on the chargesApril 7 at a pre-trial conference.

McKee was responding to the RCMP's one year update on the status of the 64 recommendations from the MacNeil Report.

RCMPCommissioner Bob Paulson hadaskedAlphonse MacNeil,retired assistant commissioner,to examine the RCMP'sresponse to the incident.

ConstablesDouglas Larche, Dave Ross andFabriceGevaudan were killed by JustinBourque. Constablesric Stphane J. Dubois and Marie Darlene Goguen were wounded.

Credit for carbine roll-out

Assistant CommissionerRoger Brown confirmed to CBC there is nowa carbine in every RCMP patrol car in New Brunswick.

McKee saidhe didgive credit where credit wasduewhen it came to the roll-out of the carbines.

"They have started the roll-out, they're training, 25 per cent of the force has been trained. But to me, it's something that should have been said years ago, not just in 2016," said McKee.

"Unfortunately, since the Mayerthorpe incident and other incidents where members were shot and killed,it took Moncton, unfortunately, to really put the pressure on to get these things out."

McKee was also critical of what he sees as inadequate staffing levels, something he said was an issue when he was a frontline supervisor.

"The numbers are extremely low," said McKee, adding he believed there were only eight RCMP officers working the night Justin Bourque went on his shooting rampage.

Staffing not part of recommendations

However, Assistant Commissioner Roger Brown said while McKee was entitled to his opinion about staffing, it was not a recommendation from the MacNeilreport and not based on policing in today's environment.

"Resourcing wasn't an issue so I'm not going to make it one, because it isn't ...It's an opinion. He's got his opinion," said Brown.

"Minimum standards, what good does it do having a police officer on every corner? Today, the environment today is having a police officer on the right corner," he said.

Brown said there was a studyconducted to assess the adequacy of policing for the regionand the results will be implemented by the district superintendent.

"There are times when the frontline needs are greater than other areas. But a police officer is a police officer, a number of police officers on the streets don't all have to be dedicated to one particular area," insistedBrown.

Brown said he is confident all of the province, including the Codiac region, hasexperienced RCMP officers doing their jobs.

Resources adequate

"I'm confident we do have the right resources," said Brown, adding resources are moved around based on priorities and needs.

"There is not a bottomless pit of of money to pour into everything. People in jobs like mine have to ensure we do what we can with what we have."

Brown said there has been a lot learned from the June 2014 tragedy.

"That's not the norm, those murders, that shooting on that particular evening was absolutely impossible for any police organization,whether it be the RCMP or any city police force to be able adequately resource for an incident of that magnitude. You can't even think along those lines," Brown said.

"There is an associated risk that comes with this job, we know it."