Kerry,
Re your response to my comment, "In Canada, 'The Horsemen' means roughly what 'The Feds' means on this side of the border," below:
"Actually, much more than that. They began as a semi-military organization to quell rebellion in the pre-confederated west. They are a federal force, but as Kevin implies, they serve as provincial police (similar to state police) except in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario and I think Newfoundland. As well, many middling to smaller communities outside those provinces may also contract to have the RCMP as the local constabulary instead of financing their own services."
What I meant was that when a local or provincial cop in Canada refers to the RCMP as "The Horsemen," he's using an in-house piece of jargon roughly equivalent to a local or state cop over here referring to the US Government's pantheon of law enforcement agencies as "The Feds." I didn't mean to imply that the history of federal policing in the US and Canada was identical.
JIM DOHERTY
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