The union representing RCMP operators and dispatchers says their members are at a breaking point due to the high number of vacant positions.
CUPE 104 issued a repress release on Tuesday arguing almost 43 per cent of RCMP operator or dispatcher positions are vacant. In Saskatchewan, the union said the job vacancy rate was 55.9 per cent as of October 2024. The Saskatchewan RCMP has disputed that number.
CUPE 104 President Kathleen Hippern said the large number of open positions has erroded morale among RCMP operators and dispatchers, and created a public safety issue.
“When we’re at 100 per cent staff, our job is difficult enough and traumatizing,” Hippern said during an interview. “But when you’re looking at a 55.9 per cent vacancy rate, you’re doing the job of a couple of people, and you’re one person.
“That’s scary,” she added. “If they (callers) have to wait minutes, really bad things can happen within the first few minutes of an emergency call.”
CUPE 104 has called on the RCMP Commissioner to comply with a Civilian Review and Complaints Commission recommendation to provide the union with OCC staffing statistics every six months. If the situation is not addressed, Hippern said parliament should begin an investigation into RCMP mismanagement of its human resources.
Hippern also said the union wants the RCMP to improve its recruitment policies, make operator and dispatcher salaries and benefits more competitive with other industries, and make changes to the medical evaluation policy which she described as “horribly invasive.”
She credited Saskatchewan RCMP management for “doing everything they can” to reduce the vacancy rate, but said it’s an uphill battle without changes to those policies.
Hippern worries that without a fresh injection of new hires, moral will continue to deteriorate.
“It keeps that big snowball effect going,” she said. “You’re worn out, morale is pretty low, and then you look for other work. Sometimes you’re even willing to take a pay cut just so you don’t have to do this shift work, take all those traumatizing calls, (and) be away from your family.”
In a press conference on Wednesday, Saskatchewan RCMP Operational Communications Centre (OCC) representatives disputed the 55.9 per cent vacancy rate, but said the issue is still “obviously a concern.”
Supt. Devin Pugh, the Support Services Officer for the Saskatchewan RCMP, argued the vacancy rate is around 30.5 per cent in Saskatchewan, but said that’s still troubling.
“We do have a vacancy rate and we are addressing that through different initiatives and different technologies to make sure that we’re providing the utmost service to Saskatchewan and maintaining that public safety,” Pugh said. “We’re aware of it and we’re addressing it in other ways, and recruiting is one of the biggest.”
Pugh said the OCC has a number of term positions that are only used for newly hired trainees. When training ends, he said, it becomes “an indeterminate position.”
OCC Unit Manager Jocelyn James said they’ve filled four new positions since October, which could account for some of the difference in the vacancy numbers. James said they had more than 300 applications after running a job advertisement campaign in 2024.
The OCC has also designated a 15-year member to travel across the province for school talks, career fairs, and town hall events to recruit more members.
“We definitely are seeing the applicants,” James said. “It’s just a long process. It’s trying to find the right fit and the type of person who can do this type of job. It’s not for everyone. It’s definitely unique.”
Pugh added that Saskatchewan is not the only province experiencing problems with recruitment. He also said the RCMP are aware of the issue on the national level.
In the meantime, Pugh said the Saskatchewan OCC have implemented a few changes to take the “front load” work off dispatchers. That means smaller jobs that ordinarily would have been handled by dispatchers are now being handed to public service employees who are assigned to the OCC.
He said they also have new technologies in place allowing them to coordinate with OCCs in other provinces in case of a mass causality event like the one in James Smith Cree Nation.
Pugh argued that the vacancy rate has not impacted the current RCMP response time. On average, OCC dispatchers and operators answer a call in five seconds or less. Pugh said that’s due to the professionalism of OCC call takers, and initiatives they’ve taken to reduce the workload.
When asked why the RCMP Commissioner declined to make OCC staffing statistics public, Pugh told reports he couldn’t say.
