Deer Island lost RCMP officer over officer safety, says retired Mountie

A former New Brunswick Mountie says the reason RCMP are no longer based on Deer Island is officer safety.

Gilles Blinn was reacting to alleged vigilantism on the island this week over a rash of thefts, and to complaints from residents about the loss of their on-site officer years ago.

Blinn retired as a staff sergeant in 2018, after serving 31 years, including eight as a labour representative.

He says he pointed out to RCMP at the time that he believed they could be criminally charged under the Canada Labour Code for putting the Deer Island Mountie's life at risk.

"One-member posts are not safe," said Blinn.

"It's all fine and dandy when everything's good, but when somebody wants to do harm to a member, that member doesn't have any backup that's readily available," he said.

Backup should be less than an hour away, said Blinn, "because when you're in a fight for your life, an hour, you're dead."

Officer backup a ferry ride away

The lone Deer Island officer's situation was particularly troublesome, according to Blinn. The officer worked out of their home, without a police station or jail cells, and their closest backup was a ferry ride away in St. George, which "adds a layer of complexity that's unsafe," he said.

It takes about 20 minutes to drive from St. George to Letete to catch the ferry to Deer Island. The crossing takes about  20 minutes, according to the Department of Transportation's website. And the ferry from the mainland stops running between 10:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m.

"It's nice to have [a resident officer] for the community, but it's not safe for the member," said Blinn. "So that's why we [the labour representatives] didn't want a member there."

"It was my job to protect … the member that was there, and secondly to protect management from themselves because if something happened to that member, they could face a charge."

$550K penalty over Moncton shootings

He noted a judge found the RCMP guilty under the Canada Labour Code in 2017 of failing to provide adequate use-of-force equipment and related user training to the Moncton Mounties who responded to the June 4, 2014 shootings.

RCMP Constables Fabrice Gevaudan, Doug Larche and Dave Ross were killed. Two more officers were shot but survived. The national force was ordered to pay a penalty of $550,000.

Blinn contends Deer Island wasn't safe for an officer alone years ago, and is even less so today because policing in general has become more dangerous, he said, citing increased drug use that makes people unpredictable and a growing "anti-police sentiment" across North America as examples.

"If I was a supervisor, no way in hell I would ever allow that," said Blinn, who worries "a lot" about his twin 28-year-old sons and two sons-in-law who all work for the RCMP.

"If the call is serious enough to go, you should go two members [because] one, you can get in trouble really fast, and you can be incapacitated really quick. And then you're just praying for the best."

He recalled working alone on occasion at his first post in Minto in 1988. "It's a bad feeling to be alone … and you're in the middle of nowhere." Police also had fewer tools then — only handcuffs and a gun, no pepper spray or Tasers.

He got in "a few tussles" and is still here to talk about it. 

"But it could have turned the other way too," he said. "You don't know what you're going to, never."

RCMP warn against vigilantism

On Wednesday, RCMP issued a statement warning the public against acts of vigilantism as they investigate a series of incidents on Deer Island.

A car was heavily damaged by a group of people at the ferry terminal Tuesday around 11 p.m., an abandoned residence was destroyed in a suspicious fire about an hour later, and on Wednesday morning, some fuel was reported stolen from the ferry terminal.

Some residents have suggested they took matters into their own hands after a rash of overnight thefts, allegedly by people who use drugs and visit the island on the last ferry of the night, making it even harder for St. George RCMP to respond.

Would need 3 officers, not feasible

According to Blinn, Deer Island would need at least three officers to be able cover when one is off-duty, on vacation, or away on training.

But the call volume on the island doesn't make that feasible, he said.

Blinn estimates it costs $150,000 to $170,000 to staff one constable position, including salary, benefits and vehicle.

And resources are limited, given retirements and fewer young people choosing to go into policing, he said.

People who live in remote areas can't expect 24/7 policing, and RCMP have to prioritize serious crimes, such as homicides, over "petty crimes," such as thefts.

"It's not petty to you if someone steals your stuff, right? And I understand that."

Blinn admits he doesn't know what the solution is for Deer Island and wishes he did. He believes it's a multi-faceted problem ranging from the cost of living, to addictions, and the courts not being hard enough on criminals — issues police alone cannot solve.

More sporadic patrols of the island by St. George RCMP might help, he said. But he believes would-be criminals will know when officers are on the ferry and "stay low" until they leave.

He does recommend residents try to focus on prevention. "Lock your stuff up."

Province 'aware rural crime is an issue'

New Brunswick RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Stéphane Esculier did not provide an interview or update about Deer Island on Friday.

Public Safety Minister Kris Austin is on vacation and unavailable, said department spokesperson Geoffrey Downey.

"The government is aware rural crime is an issue, that's why we invested in addressing crime on multiple fronts in the last budget," Downey said in an emailed statement, without elaborating.

"While the department meets with the RCMP on a regular basis to get an update on the work being done to fill the positions, questions about hiring and where the officers will be stationed should be directed to the RCMP," Downey said.

Pat Bouchard, director of the Atlantic/central region for the National Police Federation, which represents about 20,000 RCMP members across Canada, did not respond to a request for an interview.