More than 60 officers left Codiac RCMP since 2014

Police officers in the Codiac Regional RCMP detachment are under "much greater stress" since the June 4, 2014 shootings, with many people refusing to work overtime, according to the professional association that represents Mounties across Canada.

Documents obtained by CBC News under the Access to Information Act show that more than 60 officers have left the Moncton-area detachment since 2014, when a gunman killed three Moncton Mounties and wounded two others.

"They're just burnt out," said Rob Creasser, a spokesman with the Mounted Police Professional Association of Canada.

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Sixty-four officers have retired, resigned or transferred out of the Codiac detachment between January 2014 and May 2016.

During that same period, 44 officers transferred into Codiac.

Three Codiac RCMP officers — Constables Douglas James Larche, Dave Joseph Ross and Fabrice Gevaudan — were shot and killed by Justin Bourque during his June 4, 2014 rampage through Moncton, an attack that ground the city to a halt for 28 hours.

Two other Codiac officers — Const. Éric Stéphane J. Dubois and Const. Marie Darlene Goguen — were wounded in the shootings. 

Bourque received five life sentences in October 2014, with no chance of parole for 75 years.

'Unbearable tension'

Darryl Davies, a criminology instructor at Carleton University, said officers may have a variety of reasons for wanting to leave a detachment, including the chance at a promotion elsewhere.

But he's not surprised to see an exodus following a traumatic event.

"I don't think it is unusual or surprising when I hear these numbers," he said.

"I think they're consistent with any work environment where there's been a tragedy, because people are not robots."

Davies believes the RCMP has been too slow to adopt a recommendation to give uniformed officers access to patrol carbines and the training to use the powerful rifles.

He made that recommendation more than six years ago in a report he was commissioned to write after four RCMP officers were shot and killed near Mayerthorpe, Alta.

"I would think that the circumstances of the shootings in Moncton, and the political fallout as a consequence of not having adequate equipment, probably has created unbearable tension in that detachment," Davies said.

In February, the force said it was making "significant progress" on rolling out patrol carbines to detachments across the country and adopting other recommendations that came out of an independent review into the Moncton shootings.

The organization has also pleaded not guilty to four Canada Labour Charges that allege the force violated health and safety provisions during the 2014 incident.

Transfers common after traumatic event

Roger Brown retired as the commanding officer for New Brunswick RCMP on Saturday, the second anniversary of the Moncton shootings.

In an interview with CBC News in April, Brown said the Moncton shootings, among other events, had taken a toll on him.

"There's a part of me missing," said Brown. "I'm not going to hide behind that. There's a lot of hurt, a lot of pain."

Numbers the RCMP provided last year show 20 officers requested and were granted transfers out of Codiac specifically because of the 2014 shootings.

"It wouldn't be out of the ordinary for members to request to be transferred after such a tragic event," said Const. Jullie Rogers-Marsh, a spokeswoman with the New Brunswick RCMP.

"However, we also had and continue to have members from across Canada request to come to Codiac and to New Brunswick as they are desired posts."

Rogers-Marsh declined to respond to Creasser's comments about staffing levels at the Codiac detachment, saying it would be inappropriate to comment on "someone else's opinion."

Moncton councillor Charles Léger, who chairs the Codiac Regional Policing Authority, said the addition of new officers can be positive because they bring new skills and ideas to the region.

"Numbers can say a variety of different things, but I don't see anything alarming," Léger said.

"I see it as some regular movement in and out of Codiac RCMP."

Pressure on new Codiac officers

But Creasser believes the exodus has left the Codiac detachment understaffed and is connected to the 2014 shootings.

He said he struggled to return to work as a Mountie after being shot at near Kamloops, B.C. more than 25 years ago, especially when he drove by the spot where it happened.

Those who have stayed in the detachment face a more difficult job than before 2014, Creasser said, while the community loses the sources and connections built by departing officers.

"When you get a huge group that leaves that has been there for some time, that has that local knowledge, there's a lot of pressure on the new people coming in to get up to speed quickly," he said.