The RCMP has not recruited enough new officers or effectively assigned its members to meet its operational needs, according to a new report from the auditor general — raising concerns about public safety across the country.

“As a result of chronic shortages of front-line police officers, the RCMP faces a higher risk of police officer absences and burnout, which could make it more challenging for the force to prevent and investigate crime, maintain peace and order, and contribute to national security,” Auditor General Karen Hogan wrote in a report tabled Monday. 

Recruitment lags and staffing crunches have been some of the most pressing issues facing the RCMP, which is responsible for what’s known as contract policing — the boots-on-the-ground policing in most provinces, the three territories and more than 150 municipalities across the country.

The Mounties are also responsible for federal policing, the increasingly in-demand core function of the organization which investigates cases including foreign interference, organized crime and counterterrorism. 

Despite flagging recruitment as a top priority since 2018, the auditor general’s analysis of RCMP’s data shows that the shortage of police officers has actually worsened in the last two years, with at least 3,400 additional police officers needed as of September 2025.

It also found the RCMP did not accurately identify the total number of police officers it needed to fully staff the force. As of September 2025, vacancy rates were above the force’s critical threshold of seven per cent in nine of the 11 provinces and territories served by the RCMP .

“These high vacancy rates pose a clear risk to the RCMP’s ability to maintain operational capacity and deliver policing services,” the audit said.

330 days on average to process an application: audit 

One of the known irritants in the RCMP’s recruitment process has been the length of time it takes for an application to be vetted. According to the audit, it take on average 330 to process an application. 

Of the applications that the RCMP processed during the audit period, only six per cent resulted in an offer to be trained as a police officer because the remaining applicants dropped out of the process (about 15 per cent), stopped communicating with the RCMP (24 per cent), were deemed unsuitable (37 per cent), or their application was still being processed (18 per cent).

The auditor general’s office ran a survey to dig into those numbers. Of the applicants who responded, the most frequently cited reasons for withdrawing from the process were timing and personal reasons, eligibility requirements such as those related to fitness, or to pursue other opportunities.

Boosting recruitment has been one of RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme’s main priorities since taking the job in 2023. 

But even initiatives to counter anemic recruitment figures haven’t always worked, according to the audit. 

The RCMP introduced the flexible posting plan in 2023, which allowed new police officers to choose the province or territory of their first assignment. The idea was to let new Mounties stay close to family if that was their goal. 

Hogan’s audit said the plan has succeeded in attracting thousands more applicants than anticipated and surpassed its planned application number.

“However, the change also led to an unintended outcome—chronic vacancies in some divisions increased,” she wrote.

Last summer the RCMP began phasing out the posting plan and resumed assigning new police officers to divisions according to operational needs.

“Given the high number of vacancies, it will take many years to fully reverse the impacts of the temporary approach,” said the audit.

The report makes six recommendations, including addressing bottlenecks in its application process to address delay and better identifying current and future staffing needs. The RCMP agreed with all six.

The audit follows a campaign promise from Prime Minister Mark Carney to hire 1,000 more RCMP personnel.