The relationship between governments and police is an important element of the bond between the citizen and the state. The relationship is subject to important constitutional principles that support orderly, representative, democratic government. It is also shaped by the attitudes of the general public, government officials and police forces. For the federal government and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, institutional arrangements and history also play important roles in shaping the relationship. The relationship on the whole has been unsatisfactory. This is due in part to inadequate public debate about ways of ensuring both investigative independence and appropriate democratic control and accountability. There is no more comlicated or difficult set of relationships in the entire machinery of government than those between governments and police. The article discusses some of the underlying problems and possible means of bringing about improvements.
