Hello Deep Dives platform! It's a beautiful day to share news about illicit shootings that have involved the police. This has made stakeholders to investigate on the causes of the shootings. Good morning!
Officials tasked with reviewing Canada's worst mass shooting called for sweeping police reforms, stricter gun safety regulations and better public communication on Thursday after an investigation found many shortcomings in authorities' response to the 2020 incident.
In April 2020, 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman, disguised in a police uniform and driving a fake police car, shot and killed 22 people in a 13-hour rampage in the Atlantic province of Nova Scotia, before police killed him at a gas station about 90 km (60 miles) from the site of his first killings in Portapique.
Canada is a country that you hardly hear of rare violence of such taking place and this case shocked everyone. This led to the setting up of a Mass Casualty Commission to investigate and bring possible lasting solution that'll curb future violence.
The commission submitted 130 recommendations contained in a 3000-paged reports. The commission calls on the restructuring of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) which entail a new approach to federal financial support for provincial and municipal policing services.
For me decentralizing the police force into provincial and municipal policing services will effectively help curb crime from the grassroots. Also, the above suggested policing services will help in quick responses to crimes and other violent activities within the provinces and municipal.
Although, it'll be very difficult for the federal to finance the provincial and municipal policing services because it has moved to the hands of the province and municipal. This is only my thought though but I think if the federal supports this it'll bring great reforms that'll be helpful in policing the entire Canadian state.
Calls for reforming the RCMP are not new and there have been similar public inquiries and reviews in the past that resulted in recommendations that have not yet been implemented, the report said.
It found the RCMP was unprepared and untrained to handle the scale of the incident, and mismanaged internal as well as public messaging.
In one example, the commission noted the only information RCMP released to the public was posted on Twitter about 90 minutes after the first killing and underplayed the seriousness of the threat.
It's very important that information are communicated to the public in order for people to take cover and protect themselves. For instance, the above situation mentioned above shows that most people would have avoided being killed if information reached them on time during the attack.
The inquiry also found that Wortman illegally owned at least five firearms, including three smuggled into Canada from the United States, that could have been prevented with better police oversight.
Canada has stricter gun laws than the United States, but Canadians can own firearms with a license. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government has been trying to tackle gun violence through measures introduced after the Nova Scotia shooting, including a handgun freeze announced last year.
We hope that this particular report and recommendations will not be treated like the previous ones and with proper reforms and restructuring the society will become safer for all.