A month ago in Kimmirut, Nunavut, RCMP Const. Douglas Scott was shot and killed while responding to a report of an impaired driver.  He answered the late-night call by himself.

It has now emerged that an e-mail sent last June instructed detachment commanders in Nunavut to provide an explanation every time RCMP officers answer calls in pairs.

In a June e-mail to detachment commanders in Nunavut, an e-mail that was obtained by CBC News, a senior regional officer wrote that while reviewing overtime claims he noticed some units sent two members to all calls.

"The direction that I am giving you, the detachment commander, is to ensure that you and the member(s) under your command base your response to calls on appropriate risk assessment," he wrote in the e-mail.

"Note on all OT claims how many members responded to every call. When more then [sic] one member responds to a call provide an explanation."

In October, Const. Christopher Worden was shot dead in Hay River, NWT, while responding to a call alone.

RCMP Sgt Dan Laurence, who spent four years in Nunavut, thinks officers should always have backup.

"Someone died because we're trying to save a dollar perhaps," said RCMP Sgt. Dan Laurence, who worked in Nunavut for four years, including one year at the RCMP's two-person detachment in Kimmirut.
. . .
"We should have no members going to a call alone. Never. In any situation, regardless of years of service and all that because you know what? A bullet doesn't recognize if you've got 25 years service or five months service."

RCMP top brass have some 'splainin' to do.