Top RCMP officers being forced out

High-ranking officers who complained to the government about Commissioner William Elliot are either quitting or being asked to resign.

This past summer, several officers took the unprecedented step of bypassing the Mounties’ chain of command and complaining directly to some of the highest level of government about Elliot, whom they said was verbally abusive and arrogant. The government launched a workplace assessment of the RCMP, but the process was criticized as being little more than window dressing. Elliot was hand-picked by the prime minister in 2007 to become the first civilian commissioner of the troubled force, and there was speculation he might resign after the complaints. But it now appears he’s won the power struggle. At least one of the officers who complained about him has been asked to leave the force and another has announced his retirement.