2007 May Report of the Auditor General of Canada

Solicitor General of Canada, Government Response to the 17th Report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts: RCMP—Services for Canada's Law Enforcement Community, June 2001

"It is anticipated that new performance and service standards will have been validated and client consultation completed by fiscal year 2002. It is the intention of the RCMP to publish these standards and to report annually on its performance against these standards."

• No evidence that performance and service standards were validated.
• New standards have not been published.
• FLS performance discussed in departmental performance reports for fiscal years 2001–02 and 2002–03, but not thereafter.

Standing Committee on Justice, Human Rights, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, November 2004

"There is no backlog in the system. What we have is cases in process. There isn't one major case that is not done within 15 days. There is no country in the world that meets that standard."

• We examined "cases in process" that had not been completed within 30 days (defined as backlog). Overall backlog was 2,017 service requests in March 2006.
• Most urgent service requests are completed within 15 days. However, the definition of an urgent request was narrowed in 2003, with the result that 1 percent or fewer service requests currently fall into this category. The remaining routine service requests include murder and other violent offences (38 percent of all requests concern violent offences).
• The UK's Forensic Science Service meets the target of 7 days for completing DNA analysis of crime scene stains.

"Every single major case that requires an emergency DNA analysis is done in this country and it's done within 15 days. Every other case is negotiated and discussed with the police force or the agency that wants that done, and every single one is satisfied."

• 82 percent of clients interviewed said there was no negotiation of the original due date.
• 92 percent of routine service requests are given the default due date.
• When asked about specific cases, only about one half of clients said timeliness was "good" or "very good."

Standing Committee on Justice, Human Rights, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, March 2005

"We today on major crimes guarantee and have produced a 15-day turnaround, which is as good as if not better than anywhere else in the world."

• Analyses for most major crimes are not completed within 15 days. The FLS categorizes 99 percent of service requests as routine, including murder and other violent offences.

"[Regarding restructuring,] there is absolutely no loss or diminution of service. The timelines we are committed to with DNA and other tests stay the same."

• Although the RCMP established turnaround targets of 15 days for urgent service requests and 30 days for routine ones, it has created much longer Expected Diary Dates (EDDs), which are provided to clients as an estimate of when the examination will be completed. Furthermore, the EDD for Biology is currently 180 calendar days, up from 70 days in February 2003.
• The timelines for completing Biology service requests have increased from an average of 91 days in the 2003–04 fiscal year to 114 days in 2005–06.

"Clearly, murder cases, cases with violence, violent assault cases, those kinds of things would definitely go right into the priority queue and be handled right away."

• 38 percent of service requests relate to violent offences. The FLS categorizes most of these as routine and does not give them any special priority.

"By 2005 we will have substantially improved our ability to provide world-class service."

• In the 2005–06 fiscal year, turnaround times for Biology requests were longer than in earlier years and backlogs had increased.

"We have a negotiated agreement with the police forces on how much time they need: when does their case have to go to court? We negotiate to their satisfaction, each one."

• 82 percent of clients interviewed said there was no negotiation of the original due date.
• 20 percent of clients said the original due date did not meet their needs.