New N.S. top Mountie says public wants to keep force despite mass shooting response

Assistant Commissioner Dennis Daley said it will be his job to rebuild relationships with the public, municipal governments and other police forces

CITYnews halifax \ Canadian Press

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HALIFAX — The RCMP’s new commanding officer in Nova Scotia believes the public wants a renewed relationship with his police force despite its widely criticized response to the 2020 mass shooting.

Assistant Commissioner Dennis Daley said in an interview today that while it’s possible a public inquiry may recommend the province examine alternative policing models, he is confident Nova Scotians “still want the RCMP as their provincial police.”

He said in an interview it will be his job in the coming years to rebuild relationships with the public, municipal governments and other police forces.

The public inquiry into the mass shooting has heard of many problems with the RCMP response, including a failure to issue emergency alerts, staff shortages limiting the number of officers available and a lack of basic gear to help officers keep track of one another in the dark.

Twenty-two people, including a pregnant woman, were killed by a 51-year-old gunman on April 18-19, 2020 as he drove a replica police car across central Nova Scotia before being killed by RCMP officers at a gas station.

Daley joined the RCMP in 1988, and his last job was assistant commissioner of contract and Indigenous policing in Ottawa — giving him close ties to the existing system of RCMP policing of rural communities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 14, 2022.

The Canadian Press