Four Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers assigned to protect Prime Minister Jean Chretien were suspended Friday, and three of their supervisors were re-assigned, as embarrassing new details surfaced about how a knife-wielding man broke into the prime minister's residence last Sunday.
"Decisions were made that put the lives of the prime minister and Mme. Chretien in danger. That is totally unacceptable and falls far below the standards of conduct expected of a member of the RCMP," Asst. Commissioner Bryan McConnell said in a statement released from RCMP headquarters in Ottawa.The Chretiens were unhurt in the incident, but it has sullied the cherished reputation of the Mounted Police and prompted a review of the prime minister's security arrangements.
According to reports by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and the Toronto Star, the intruder tripped an alarm when he climbed the fence surrounding the mansion grounds at 2:23 a.m., and at one point he waved at a surveillance camera. The reports said two mounties on duty in a guardhouse inexplicably missed the man's appearance on their video screen and ignored the alarm because they assumed it had been triggered by a squirrel or raccoon, as has happened in the past. They did not alert a third officer who was patrolling the grounds.
The man, armed with a 5-inch jackknife, tried twice to enter the mansion, succeeding the second time by breaking a glass door with a rock. He roamed the grounds and the house undetected for nearly 40 minutes before being confronted by the prime minister's wife, Aline Chretien, just outside the couple's bedroom.
Aline Chretien locked the intruder out of the bedroom and summoned police from the guardhouse. While waiting seven minutes for Mounties to arrive, the prime minister picked up a soapstone sculpture of a loon to use as a club if it became necessary.
The suspect, however, did not try to force entry to the bedroom and surrendered to officers without a struggle, police said.
Andre Dallaire, 34, has been charged with attempted murder, breaking and entering and two other crimes.