A recruitment 'crisis' threatens the RCMP's future — the new boss has plans to turn it around

At first glance, the decrepit building in Dillon, Sask., doesn't look much like a working RCMP detachment.

The paint on the one-storey structure in the province's north hasn't seen a touch-up in a decade. It looks like someone took a BB-gun to the detachment's front door — and a foot to the side entry.

The building has asbestos; an air purifier was churning away in a corner during a recent mid-July visit by RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme. The detachment's wooden cells have been condemned — they're used for storage now. Officers have to drive an hour without cell reception to a neighbouring detachment if they need to lock someone up.

Duheme was in Dillon to introduce himself to the rank-and-file and get their feedback on working conditions. Conversation after conversation between the commissioner and serving Mounties came back to the same overarching problem: detachments are overworked and understaffed, and recruitment efforts don't come close to keeping pace with attrition.

"Our recruiting strategy, our processes, it's what really keeps me up at night," said Duheme told CBC News.

"I think we're at a crossroads where we have to change."

Duheme invited CBC to follow him for a week while he toured detachments across Saskatchewan and stayed at the RCMP training depot in Regina. CBC News covered the cost of its room, board and transportation.

Conversations between frontline officers and the commissioner were off the record but Duheme heard the same message from Mounties over and over: officers are exhausted and reinforcements can't arrive fast enough.

"When I had a chance to visit a couple of detachments up in northern Saskatchewan and the conditions of these detachments, I'm amazed that we can actually get members into these detachments," Duheme said.

"It just shows you the type of individuals that we have that want to work there and serve the community."

Boosting recruitment is one of Duheme's main priorities. His success or failure may set the future course of Canada's storied national police service.

"Everything turns on recruiting, it really does," said Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore, the commanding officer in Saskatchewan.

"At some point, the numbers run out and we just can't continue to provide the service."

The RCMP is not the only law enforcement agency struggling with recruitment but its unique model — serving as both the contract police force of jurisdiction in most provinces and all territories and as the lead agency on federal policing files — makes its staffing problems especially acute.