Criminologist Pushes for Inquiry into RCMP Sexual Harassment

Concerns with RCMP attitudes toward female colleagues need to be aired publicly, says one criminologist.

Emerging details over allegations of sexual harassment among RCMP officers in British Columbia has prompted a leading criminologist to write to the federal government asking them to open a public inquiry into the charges. Earlier this week, Cpl. Catherine Galliford, a long-time spokeswoman for the B.C. RCMP, went public with the history of harassment she had suffered at the hands of her male coworkers. Her admission led to other female Mounties coming forward with their own accounts of harassment, and now Darryl Davies, a professor of criminology at Carleton University, has requested that Public Safety Minister Vic Toews do something about it. Davies said that a public inquiry is the only way to properly determine just how much harassment has gone on and whether it's a systemic issue or just a case of a few bad apples. Others have suggested that Galliford's experiences ought to convince the RCMP that they need to be unionized, much like most other police forces.