Canada had no data on misbehaving Mounties

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OTTAWA, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- The head of Canada's national police force has admitted the agency failed for years to keep track of serious offenses committed by Mounties across the country.

The admission was made after officials said such a list took four years to compile because it had to be done from scratch, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Sunday.

CBC News had asked the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for the list in November 2008. It was delivered in November 2012.

The news agency had requested basic data such as offenses and findings by internal adjudication boards from 2005 through 2008.

Commissioner Bob Paulson said the request revealed even senior RCMP officers did not know if incidents of misconduct were a problem.

"We're tracking them all" now, he said.

Paulson took command of the agency a little more than a year ago.

The data indicated of some 19,000 active-duty officers, 335 had been brought before a tribunal during the four-year period.

The incidents included 35 cases of assault, sexual assault or harassment, 30 officers who were impaired, 29 who gave false or misleading statements and 16 for unauthorized use of the central police database.