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Analysis

Several years ago, a number of former high-ranking RCMP officials and academic experts started to express worry that the agency’s decision to divert hundreds of investigators to counterterrorism files could lead to a flourishing of other crimes, from drug trafficking to money laundering.

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“It’s a good day to be in organized crime” one former superintendent told Postmedia in 2015.

They may have been right.

This week’s revelation that there are no federally funded officers in B.C. dedicated to criminal money-laundering investigations underscores a need for the RCMP to consider a drastic overhaul of its operations, experts say.

Some say the RCMP needs to get out of its municipal and provincial policing contracts so it can focus exclusively on federal policing and start rebuilding a reserve of investigative specialists with expertise in accounting and other areas, after years of churning out generalists.