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William Elliott defended himself against criticism that he has no police experience, on the day his appointment as the RCMP's new full-time commissioner was made official.

The career bureaucrat's appointment as Canada's top cop breaks a longstanding RCMP tradition of hiring from within. "There are certainly going to be challenges,'' Elliott told a news conference Friday, adding that he doesn't "wear rose-coloured glasses."

Despite the fact Elliott has never served as a police officer, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said he has "incredible and extensive experience that suits him well to the position he is about to take on.

"He knows what it is to be in a position of extreme crisis and keep a cool head."

Â鶹ӰÊÓ first reported yesterday that the former Public Safety Department bureaucrat will take the reins of a force troubled by a pension scandal and a special investigator's report that called its governance "horribly broken."

"The prime minister felt he needed an outsider, somebody to sweep in with a new broom, and with no loyalties within the RCMP," reported CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife.

Criticism

Bev Busson, who filled in as the force's acting commissioner after Giuliano Zaccardelli stepped down last December, had called for a Mountie to lead the RCMP.

And retired RCMP staff-sergeant Ron Lewis said he saw Elliott as being too close with the government.

"The RCMP is supposed to be arm's-length from government,'' Lewis told the Canadian Press."I believe the arm just got very short."

Fife said senior RCMP officers have told him Elliot's appointment felt like a "demoralizing blow, a slap in their face."

"They feel they're being punished for the mistakes and scandal that happened under former commissioner Zaccardelli and a few people who worked under him," said Fife.

He added that some officers view Elliott as a "political operator" who got his start under the government of Brian Mulroney.

Facing questions about the controversy surrounding his appointment, Elliot said as an outsider there is "no doubt" he will face challenges his predecessors didn't have to face. But he's optimistic he will overcome them with the cooperation of the police force.

"I have spoken to a number of members of the RCMP who have been very supportive of the idea, not only of the possibility of me being named commissioner, but the possibility of someone from the outside. So I don't think the view is universal," Elliot told reporters Friday.

"But the management of the RCMP needs to be done -- it's a big and complex organization -- it needs to be done in a collaborative manner. We need to have an approach where everybody can bring their different experience and their different expertise to bear so that we can provide the best services to Canadians and we can have a police service that all Canadians can continue to be proud of."

Fife says Elliott was seen by many as a skilled manager in the public safety department as well as in the Coast Guard, where Elliott served as deputy commissioner.

"Apparently people say he did a very good job when he was running the Coast Guard and he ended up having a lot of respect with the rank and file."

In 1989, Elliott worked as an executive assistant to the office of the deputy prime minister. One year later, he became chief of staff in the same office.

Elliott also served as national security advisor to Prime Minister Stephen Harper from April 2005 until last spring.

Day reminded reporters on Friday that Brown was also appointed by a previous Liberal government as national security adviser to former prime minister Paul Martin.

"I think that says a lot for his ability to be even-minded and fair-minded . . . and we didn't hold that against him that he had a Liberal appointment at one time in his life," said Day. "We refused to discriminate against him in that."

Elliott 'will have to be special'

CTV police analyst John Muise said while there's no question Elliott has a great pedigree in terms of his political and public experience, "the hard part will be for him to gain the respect of members personally and professionally."

"He's going to have to be special," Muise, also the director of public safety at the Canadian Centre for Abuse Awareness, told Â鶹ӰÊÓnet. "I feel for him. This is definitely a radical departure. It's a significant announcement."

David Brown, former head of the Ontario Securities Commission, laid most of the blame for the RCMP's troubles at the feet of Zaccardelli.

Brown cast Zaccardelli as an authoritarian bully whose mishandling of complaints over management of the $12-billion RCMP pension fund destroyed morale within the agency.

Zaccardelli, has denied any wrongdoing. He resigned after testimony he gave a Commons committee looking into the Maher Arar affair was proven false.

Muise said he hopes Elliott is able to reinvigorate the embattled police force that has done "wonderful things" in the past "and has certainly a great reputation. I look forward to seeing that come back. I look forward to happy frontline officers that serve the public well."

Elliot's appointment is effective July 1.

With files from The Canadian Press