RCMP apologize for response to shooting that shocked residents of N.B. community

Leaders with the RCMP haveapologized for the handling of a recent shootingin central New Brunswick, whichthey now admit took 50 minutes for officers to respond to.

Speaking to a room of at timesfrustrated-soundingresidents on Monday, RCMPofficials said it should not have takenofficers so long to arriveatthe scene of the shooting onSept. 1 in the Municipality of Grand Lake that left a 75-year-old man seriously injured.

They also said they "dropped the ball"by not providing residents with any communication about the incident for three dayswhile they searched for the suspect.

"We dropped the ball, and I'm not going to hide from that," said West District RCMP Insp. Mike Berry.

"We could have done better. We should have done better and Iwant to apologize to the community for the grief and the fear that it probably caused you. We should have had something out and we didn't."

Berry made those comments to a room of about 80 people who gathered at the ChipmanCommunity Heritage Centreto voice concerns about the quality of RCMP servicesin the area.

The meeting was spurred by the RCMP's response to a call about theshooting outside a home in Gaspereau Forks, which is part of theamalgamated Municipality of Grand Lake, about 80 kilometres northeast of Fredericton.

The RCMP said they believe two people were burglarizing a homewhen the owner and a 75-year-old manarrived at the scene. An altercation followed, and the elderly man wasshotand taken to hospital with serious injuries.

The RCMP have yet to make any arrestsin the case.

Officers shared across region

The RCMPdivides its officers among the province's 12 regions, said Supt. Andy LeClair, commander for the RCMP's West District. Regional Service Commission 11, which includes Grand Lake, hasa complement of 71 officers, he said.

That region includes detachments in Keswick,Oromocto, Nackawic, New Maryland and Minto, which is part of the Municipality of Grand Lake.However, officers from any one detachment can be tasked withresponding to calls in the others.

Speaking to residents Monday night, LeClair said that operatingmodel resulted in the lengthy wait time for the call in Gaspereau Forks.

"There was a lot going on that evening, but we should have done better in ensuring this side of the community was covered off, becausewhen we did a scrub-down, we realized that people were working out of different detachments, and we didn't have someone working at the Minto detachment," LeClair said.

"There's obviously a huge geography when you're looking at Regional Service Commission 11, but we simply need to do better in reducing those [response] times," he said, while confirmingthere's no provincial standard for how quickly RCMP officers have to respond to calls.

"But we, in this situation, we could have done better."

More officers incoming

LeClair said the RCMPwas already working on at least one change that he thinks will improve response times in the Municipality of Grand Lake.

Thanks to added provincial spending starting last year, the RCMP's total complement of officers went up from 56 to 71, but efforts are still underway to fill all of those positions, LeClair said.

Once that happens, the number of officers assigned to the Minto detachment will go up from eight to 10, he said, "ensuring that we have the structure in place that they can work specifically in the community of ...Grand Lake."

Residents cautiously optimistic

Faith Kennedy attended Monday's town hall meeting over concerns about how long it takes RCMP officers to respond to calls.

She said the 50-minute response time to theshooting doesn't surprise her, and she fears would-be criminals have also caught on to how long it couldtake officers to respond.

"If anything bad happens, it's very scary," said the Chipman resident.

The RCMP have promised better service in the past, she said, leaving her cautiously optimistic things will change this time.

"It seems to be promising and I hope that they can carry it through and I hope that [an improvement of service] really does happen," she said.

Mayor Kevin Nicklinsaid he didn't get the answers he was hoping for tohis questions on Monday.

He asked the RCMP about their decision not to issue an Alert Ready notification about the shooting, which officials on Monday night defended, saying it didn't meet the threshold.

Nicklin said he was also hoping to hear plans to stop sending officers from the Minto detachment to attendto calls from neighbouring communities.

Still, he said he came away from the meeting feeling somewhat optimistic.

"I'm just hopingthey do better in our area, or can improve in our area. That would be the biggest thing for us," he said.