RCMP DRUG TRAINING GOES TO U.S.

Tapping Experts in Phoenix

OTTAWA - The RCMP is preparing to spend hundreds of thousands of
dollars to send police officers to Phoenix for three weeks of
training where alcohol and drugs feature prominently and a bar is a
hotel requirement.

The Mounties are planning six workshops - each three weeks long - in
the sun-soaked Arizona city between April 2012 and March 2013 to
train a few hundred RCMP, provincial and municipal police officers
from across the country on recognizing and testing drug-impaired drivers.

Police say there's currently a dearth of officers in Canada with
expertise in spotting and catching drug-impaired drivers.

The RCMP, which administers the training of all Canadian police
officers on drug recognition, says Phoenix is the teaching hot spot
and best place to find high drivers in mass quantity.

The RCMP is calling for bids from hotels that can provide queen-or
king-sized beds for around 35 people for each three-week training
session, amounting to 680 guest room nights for each workshop and a
total 4,080 room nights over the six sessions planned for Phoenix.

Each workshop will include around 24 officers for training, six
certified instructors and four to six additional officers practising
to be instructors.

A couple of meeting rooms, including one with an on-site bar, are
also required for training purposes.

The force estimates the total hotel tab will range between $100,000
and $250,000, according to its request for proposals.

Sending more than 200 officers to Phoenix over the six training
sessions - with return flights from major Canadian cities ranging
from around $550 to $700 - will likely add at least another $100,000
to the total bill.

But RCMP officials say they're saving taxpayers potentially $120,000
by consolidating the training in one city this year.

"Bottom line, is it's just cheaper to do it in Arizona than what we
can provide it for in Canada," RCMP Insp. Allan Lucier said Thursday
in an interview.

The training, which is led by Canadian police officials, involves a
two-week, in-classroom theoretical component followed by one week of
inthe-field teaching and certification.

In past years, the RCMP would fly in and house officers at a hotel in
a Canadian city for the two weeks of theoretical teaching, and then
head down to Phoenix for the field certification at the Maricopa
County Sheriff 's Office.

But this year, the RCMP is hoping to save taxpayer cash by flying
police officers to one location in Phoenix for all three weeks of training.

Lucier said the Arizona facility trains 85 per cent of all
drug-recognition experts in North America, partly because there's a
sufficient number of criminals to examine, so it makes sense to send
the officers to Phoenix - even though the training will be done by
Canadian officials.

"It's just the volume and the consistency of drug-impaired
individuals that the facility provides us that make it worthwhile for
us," Lucier said.

"What going to Arizona is allowing us to do is to put some control on
those costs."