By Douglas Quan
30 January 2013
@ Postmedia News
Saudi police may receive ‘investigative training’ from the RCMP. Hassan Ammar / The Associated Press
RCMP officials are negotiating with their counterparts in Saudi Arabia to provide training in “investigative techniques,” Postmedia News has learned.
While such a deal could bolster international cooperation and the fight against terrorism, some observers question whether Canada’s national police force should be providing support to the oil-rich kingdom, whose human-rights record has long been criticized.
“Unless they’re going in to revolutionize Saudi police, it’s hard to imagine they’ll do anything good,” said Toby Jones, a professor of Middle East history at Rutgers University in New Jersey. “The Saudis have a terrible record on human rights and police brutality.”
Amnesty International’s 2012 report on Saudi Arabia said planned demonstrations were “ruthlessly suppressed.”
RCMP briefing notes obtained under access-to-information legislation show that the Mounties have been trying to forge closer ties with Saudi police. Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press
“Cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments, particularly flogging, continued to be imposed and carried out. Women and girls faced severe discrimination in law and practice, as well as violence,” the report said.
In 2011, German federal police came under criticism for their involvement in training Saudi Arabian security forces, news media in that country reported.
The federal government has said it is trying to “diversify” its relationship with Saudi Arabia beyond trade and economic interests. This month, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and Public Safety Minister Vic Toews each held meetings with Saudi Arabia’s Prince Mohammed bin Naif bin Abdulaziz, the interior minister, during a visit to Canada, according to a posting on the Saudi ministry’s website.
Rick Roth, a spokesman for Mr. Baird, said Wednesday the men discussed a number of bilateral and regional issues, including the ongoing crisis in Syria, but declined to elaborate.
Julie Carmichael, a spokeswoman for Mr. Toews, who visited Saudi Arabia in May, 2012, said his meeting focused on “matters related to policing and mutual interests in areas of security.”
Meanwhile, RCMP briefing notes obtained under access-to-information legislation show that the Mounties have been trying to forge closer ties with Saudi police.
A Dubai-based RCMP liaison, who is responsible for 12 Middle East countries, regularly travels to Saudi Arabia for the purposes of “conducting inquiries and cultivating working relationships,” the documents state. Cooperation with Saudi police is described as “very good.”
An RCMP corporal participates in a collision analysis training exercise in 2011 at Regina’s RCMP Academy. Don Healy / Postmedia News
In November, 2011, Saudi officials made a formal request to the RCMP-run Canadian Police College — which provides advanced and specialized police training courses and workshops — to establish a memorandum of understanding to provide “various training products.”
RCMP spokesman Sgt. Greg Cox said in an email this week that negotiations are continuing.
“The Canadian Police College (CPC) is in negotiations with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to provide investigative technique training to its law enforcement,” he said. “There is no signed agreement in place at this time.”
Deputy Commissioner Mike Cabana said the discussions revolve around providing the Saudis with training in evidence collection and software tools for major case management. Sgt. Cox said the force receives many requests to provide training and that law enforcement officers from the Middle East and the Arab peninsula have attended courses on investigative techniques at the Canadian Police College.
The RCMP provides a lot of training to many countries in the world and even some questionable ones
If the deal with Saudi Arabia is approved, it would mark the first time the college has delivered training in the Middle East, Sgt. Cox said.
Michel Juneau-Katsuya, a former senior manager and intelligence officer at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, said the negotiations do not surprise him.
“The RCMP provides a lot of training to many countries in the world and even some questionable ones. For example, the RCMP gave riot-control training to Chinese police in preparation for the Olympics a few years ago,” he said.
Plus, he said, the Saudi royals love the Mounties and their horses.
Mr. Jones, the Rutgers expert, cited an arms-transfer database maintained by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute that showed Canada has sold billions of dollars worth of military equipment, including armoured vehicles, to Saudi Arabia over the last several years.