Royal Canadian Mounted Police

"RCMP" and "PMRC" redirect here; for the American music ratings committee known by the acronym "PMRC", see Parents Music Resource Center.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; French: Police montée royale canadienne, PMRC) is the federal law enforcement agency of the Canadian Republic. It is responsible for all law enforcement activities coming under federal jurisdiction, and provides regular policing services on a contract basis to Canada's five territories and their constituent local governments.

The RCMP also assists the 13 provinces' provincial police forces with complex investigations and operations demanding additional resources, such as counterterrorism and gangland operations, missing persons searches and manhunts, criminology and behaviour analysis, and training of newly developed technologies or tactics. The RCMP also guards all international airports and international border crossings, while the actual administration of the customs and immigration process at such locations is handled by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA); regular physical border patrol is handled by the Royal Canadian Gendarmerie's Border Security Corps (RCG–BSC).

The RCMP is headquartered in Ottawa (the federal capital of Canada, administratively separate from the provinces and territories), which has its own police force responsible for local civilian policing, like the provincial police of each province. The RCMP, while technically permitted to enforce the Criminal Code on the citizens of Ottawa or of any Canadian locale for that matter, primarily concerns itself with the security of federal government personnel and institutions, and as a federal force engages in operations and investigations as well as assistance to other agencies, and works closely with the Security Intelligence Service, (Canada's premier intelligence and security agency) as well as the Royal Canadian Gendarmerie concerning matters of national security. The only places in Canada where the RCMP fulfills the functions and responsibilities of regular routine policing are the five territories of Canada, which unlike the 13 provinces or Ottawa, contract local policing responsibilities to the RCMP rather than forming their own force, meaning that within the five territories of Canada, the RCMP are the only police force one would expect to encounter. Nevertheless, some other law enforcement agencies of the federal government, such as the Canada Sheriff Service, do have jurisdiction in the five territories, but only concerning federal matters, leaving the RCMP as the only force responsible for law enforcement at the local level within the five territories.

The RCMP is the largest law enforcement agency in Canada, with a total of 307,574 employees as of December 2020, 215,119 of whom are sworn constables and 82,455 civilian staff. It has its headquarters in Centreville, Ottawa.

Ranks

The RCMP uses its own independently developed ranking system, consisting of several ranks used in the provincial police and other agencies, as well as ranks unique to the RCMP.

The lowest commissioned rank (that is, the lowest rank of a sworn constable/officer) is the rank of Constable, which appears first on this list. However, all recruits upon joining the RCMP police academy are assigned the rank of Cadet, which is considered lower than Constable. However, because Cadets are in training and thus not commissioned members, they are not included in this list. All ranking Cadets upon graduating from the academy are promoted to Constable.

The current ranks are as follows:

1. Constable
2. Corporal
3. Master Corporal
4. Sergeant
5. Staff Sergeant
6. Staff Sergeant Major
7. Corps Sergeant Major
8. Inspector
9. Detective Inspector
10. Detective Chief Inspector
11. Lieutenant
12. Captain
13. Superintendent
14. Chief Superintendent
15. Assistant Commissioner
16. Deputy Commissioner
17. Commissioner