Complaints against Mounties way up

OTTAWA, June 12 (UPI) -- The federal watchdog of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said public complaints against the force rose almost 35 percent last year.

The independent agency said for the year ending March 31, the leading type of complaint was of "rude, dismissive, biased or non-responsive behavior by an officer," which accounted for about 20 percent of complaints, the Ottawa Citizen reported.

Second, at 17.3 percent, were complaints of the manner in which criminal investigations were conducted. Among the allegations made by the public were concealment of facts or misreporting and improper witness interviews, the report said.

The watchdog also said it would release its findings into the growing use of, and public concern over, the use of Taser stun guns.

Meanwhile, it said in all incidents in which RCMP officers removed the stun gun from the holster, it was fired only 50 percent of the time, indicating it is being used as a deterrent, the newspaper said.

The report said the number of public complaints rose to 1,692 in 2008-2009 from 1,258 the previous year and 956 in 2006-2007, the Citizen said.