RCMP on Patrol In Louisiana with State Police

Advocate Opinion page staff

Published: Mar 31, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have become known around the world as characters of popular culture.

Those of a certain age might remember “Sergeant Preston of the Yukon,” a popular radio show — and, later, a 1950s TV show. The heroic image of the Mounties later was spoofed in Dudley Do-Right on “The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show” cartoon series.

Alas, those characters of entertainment are, for many in south Louisiana, about as close as we’ll get to a Canadian Mountie.

Louisiana residents got a rare opportunity to see some real Mounties when a delegation of RCMP officers visited the state recently to accompany officers of the Louisiana State Police on patrol. The visit was part of an exchange that began in September when several Louisiana State Police officers traveled to Atlantic, Canada, to work with members of the RCMP’s Roving Traffic Unit.

We hope officers of the Louisiana State Police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police learned much from the exchange. In this increasingly interconnected world, close relationships across borders for police officials might prove helpful in the fight against crime.