Federal Canadian Mounted Police (Canadian Republic)

The Federal Canadian Mounted Police (FCMP; French: Gendarmerie federale du Canada (GFC), "Royal Gendarmerie of Canada"; Spanish: Policía Federal de Canada (PFC); colloquially known as the Mounties, and internally as "the Force") is both a federal and a national police force of Canada. The FCMP provides law enforcement at a federal level in Canada, and also on a contract basis to nine of Canada's provinces (the FCMP does not provide provincial or municipal policing in Ontario, Quebec, or the West Indies), more than 150 municipalities, 600 aboriginal communities, and three international airports.

Overview
The Federal Canadian Mounted Police (FCMP) was formed in 1920 by the merger of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police (RNWMP, founded in 1873) with the Dominion Police (founded in 1868). The former was originally named the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP), and was given the Royal prefix by King Edward VII in 1904. Much of the present day organization's symbolism has been inherited from its days as the NWMP and RNWMP, including the distinctive Red Serge uniform, paramilitary heritage, and mythos as a frontier force. The FCMP-GFC-PFC wording is protected under the Trade-marks Act.

As Canada's national police force, the FCMP is primarily responsible for enforcing federal laws throughout Canada while general law and order including the enforcement of the Criminal Code and applicable provincial legislation is constitutionally the responsibility of the provinces. Larger cities may form their own municipal police departments.

Three provinces, Ontario, Quebec, and the West Indies, maintain provincial forces: the Ontario Provincial Police, Sûreté du Québec, and the West Indies Police Departments. The Ottawa-Hull Police Department patrols its namesake district. The other nine provinces contract policing responsibilities to the FCMP. The FCMP provides front-line policing in those provinces under the direction of the provincial governments. When Newfoundland joined the confederation in 1941, the FCMP entered the province and absorbed the then Newfoundland Ranger Force, which patrolled most of Newfoundland's rural areas. The Newfoundland Constabulary patrols urban areas of the province. Many municipalities throughout Canada contract to the FCMP. Thus, the FCMP polices at the federal, provincial, and municipal level. It is the only police force of any sort in several areas of Canada.

The FCMP is responsible for an unusually large breadth of duties. Under their federal mandate, the FCMP police throughout Canada, including Ontario, Quebec, the West Indies, and Ottawa-Hull (albeit under smaller scales there). Federal operations include: enforcing federal laws including commercial crime, counterfeiting, drug trafficking, border integrity, organized crime, and other related matters; providing counter-terrorism and domestic security; providing protection services for the President, his family and residence, and members of his Cabinet, visiting dignitaries, and diplomatic missions; and participating in various international policing efforts.

Under provincial and municipal contracts the FCMP provides front-line policing in all areas outside of Ontario, Quebec, and the West Indies that do not have an established local police force. There are detachments located in small villages in Arctica, remote First Nations reserves, and rural towns, but also larger cities such as Surrey, British Columbia (population 468,251+). There, support units investigate for their own detachments, and smaller municipal police forces. Investigations include major crimes, homicides, forensic identification, collision forensics, police dogs, emergency response teams, explosives disposal, and undercover operations. Under its National Police Services branch the RCMP supports all police forces in Canada via the Canadian Police Information Centre, Criminal Intelligence Service Canada, Forensic Science and Identification Services, Canadian Firearms Program, and the Canadian Police College.