Recommendation P.6 - Front-line Supervisor Training

In its Final Report, the Mass Casualty Commission recommended that the RCMP "[…] commission an external expert review of its initial critical incident response training for front-line supervisors." Further, the recommendation states that the report is to be completed and posted on the RCMP's public website within six months of the publication of the Mass Casualty Commission's Final Report, which was released on March 30th, 2023. The RCMP fully accepted the recommendation, and engaged a recognized external consultancy firm with the requisite expertise to advance this effort. As outlined in the statement of work, the external experts were asked to review:

• whether the Initial Critical Incident Response 100 and 200 courses adequately equips front-line supervisors to exercise initial command until an accredited critical incident commander takes command (noting that present RCMP practice means that it may be several hours before a critical incident commander assumes command);
• the rate of compliance with mandatory training requirements among front-line supervisors;
• whether the existing Initial Critical Incident Response 200 course adequately equips front-line supervisors to exercise initial command until an accredited critical incident commander takes command;
• the rate of completion of Initial Critical Incident Response 200 among front-line supervisors; and
• whether Initial Critical Incident Response 200 should be mandatory for front-line supervisors, with or without amendments.

The RCMP received the experts' final report the week of September 25, 2023. It includes 21 recommendations, and identifies that while the Initial Critical Incident Response 100-level foundational training is sufficient, improvements are needed with the 200-level training. The RCMP is currently analyzing the findings and recommendations of the report, and will be taking steps to address gaps that were identified. This external review and its findings will help inform a broad range of ongoing efforts the RCMP has been undertaking in order to respond to the Mass Casualty Commission's recommendations, including but not limited to:

• conducting a parallel internal review of the 100 and 200-level courses to identify any required changes in the broader context of other Mass Casualty Commission recommendations such as the need for immediate and effective public communications, in addition the external expert review;
• looking at developing an additional initial critical incident response course for senior non-commissioned officers who may need to provide initial command and control until a trained Critical Incident Commander is deployed to an incident. This course is tentatively called Initial Critical Incident Response 300;
• examining similar training currently provided to other policing partners to identify best practices and concepts; and
• ensuring each training course is builds on the next and that that skills improve as the courses progress. This is consistent with a recommendation made by the external experts in their report.

A summary of the full report and its recommendations, as well as a link to the report, is available on our website.