"E" Division is the division of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the province of British Columbia, Canada's westernmost province. It is the largest police body in the province, providing federal and provincial services throughout the province and policing all but 12 municipalities. In some urban areas, some municipalities have their own police forces while neighbouring ones contract with E Division. For example, Richmond is patrolled by E Division while neighbouring Vancouver has its own police force; both organizations contribute members and resources to various regional initiatives. E Division is the largest RCMP division, with 127 local detachments. Headquartered in Surrey, E Division is led by Deputy Commissioner Jennifer Strachan, The Division has about 7100 sworn members along with some 1700 civilian members and public service employees. Of the sworn members, about 1000 are assigned to federal sections, 2600 to provincial policing units, and over 3000 members serve in municipal policing. The force is assisted by about 1,200 volunteer Auxiliary Constables.
Organization
In BC, the RCMP operates at all three levels: federal, provincial and municipal in all but 11 communities. In this structure, they have the ability to mobilize large numbers of police officers from within the province and across Canada in the case of a crisis, and access a wide range of specialized units to tackle local and cross jurisdictional crimes. Through the integration of a number of specialized police services across BC, they have established an effective means by which to deal with cross-jurisdictional crimes and provide specialized services. The BC RCMP is the lead agency for numerous integrated police units such as the Integrated Homicide Investigations Team, the Integrated Border Enforcement Team, the Integrated Municipal Provincial Auto Crime Team, and many others. These integrated teams are composed of police officers from the RCMP and municipal police departments such as Delta, Abbotsford and Vancouver.
Pipe Band
The RCMP "E" Division Pipe Band is composed of volunteers and active duty officers posted to the division. It is based in Greater Vancouver and is currently one of the eight RCMP Pipe Bands currently active in Canada. It was formed in April 2006, by Drum Major Rob Smith, who had been lobbying to create the band since 1998, with an early trial band ceasing operations in 2000. The band made its debut appearance on 28 October 2006, at the Scottish Cultural Centre in Vancouver. In 2008, Hugh Peden took over as Pipe Major, being responsible for its overseas trip to Beijing, China in 2016.
Canadian Air Carrier Protection Program is a covert unit that works similar to US Air Marshals. The officers on this unit are known as Aircraft Protective Officers or, internationally, as In-Flight Security Officers.
Drug Enforcement Branch – investigate and dismantle drug labs and drug trafficking
Protective Services Section – protects government officials such as the Governor General, Prime Minister, Premiers and VIPs
Air 1 and Air 2 – Provide air support to police and monitor traffic movements
Crisis Intervention Team – Crisis support for people with mental health or emotionally disturbed crisis.
Integrated Child Exploitation – Responsible for identifying and assisting child victims of sexual abuse, monitoring and prosecuting child pornography distributor and viewers.
Integrated Homicide Investigation Team – Responsible for homicide investigations, police involved shootings and in-custody deaths at RCMP Lower Mainland detachment areas and in Abbotsford and New Westminster.
Integrated Market Enforcement Team – targeting commercial and capital market frauds
Integrated National Security Enforcement Team – investigate any crimes that threatens national security. Most recently active on the EnCana pipeline bombing cases
* INSET-Vancouver: A joint venture between the E Division and Vancouver Police Department, operate out of VPD facilities instead of the INSET-BC Surrey operation base.
Integrated Municipal Provincial Auto Crime Team – Bait car program
Integrated Proceeds of Crime – targeting and seizing terrorist-related assets
Integrated Road Safety Unit – Partnering with municipal agencies for strategic traffic enforcement and harm reduction
Integrated Forensic Identification Services – collect, process, analyze and interpret evidence found at the crime scene for RCMP Lower Mainland detachments.
Like many large police organizations, E Division has had a number of high-profile controversies. One of the most notable was the 2007 death of Robert Dziekański, who was tasered multiple times after being encountered by four E division officers despite being unarmed and being held alone in a secured room at Vancouver International Airport. Attracting international media attention, the investigation took a turn when a cellphone video, taken by a member of the public behind a glass wall and released weeks after the incident, contradicted portions of the reports given by the officers involved and also some RCMP spokespersons. In addition, several officers have been documented as engaging in misconducts in recent years. This has led to the federal government revamping disciplinary laws for RCMP members in 2012.
