Elliot Trudeau over several of his senior officers. This was the RCMP's fourteenth commissioner. Upon his appointment, The New York Times described Higgitt as being "in the tradition of quiet‐spoken, approachable but tough headed men who hardly ever, by word or deed, draw attention to themselves". Higgitt continued his duties as Commissioner on a one-year extension granted by Canada's Solicitor-General. Following his appointment as Commissioner, Higgitt was unanimously elected a vice-president of Interpol. Higgitt received a tipstaff at the 65th annual conference of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, London, Ontario. RCMP Commissioner One of the first questions posed to Higgitt upon his appointment as RCMP Commissioner was whether he thought a Chinese Communist Embassy in Ottawa would pose a new security problem for the federal police. Higgitt's immediate answer, widely circulated throughout Canadian media, was that a Chinese Communist presence in Canada would indeed require heightened police vigilance; an answer which displeased Trudeau, who had pressed hard for Canada-China negotiations. Higgitt's opinion, which came as the government was pressing for a diplomatic exchange with China, was that the presence of a Communist Chinese embassy in Ottawa would increase espionage activity in Canada, even if diplomatic links might outweigh those disadvantages. In May 1971, after Canada and China's Maoist Government had agreed to exchange ambassadors, Higgitt was asked, while testifying before the Commons Judicial Committee, if he maintained his 1969 position on China. To this Higgitt repeated that in 1969 "The obvious answer had to be yes". During his term in office, the RCMP Guidon was presented to the Force by Queen Elizabeth II, the first videofile system for storing and retrieving fingerprints was obtained, the Canadian Police Information Center (CPIC) with nationwide computer services was opened, and the creation of the Canadian Bomb Data Center was authorized. Higgitt directed RCMP operations during the FLQ Crisis in Quebec in 1970. Higgitt opposed the use of the War Measures Act by the Trudeau Government, which gave the police and military special powers to crack down on the FLQ. The October Crisis and the use of the War Measures Act led to an official critical review of the security and intelligence situation in Canada called The Royal Commission on Security, chaired by Maxwell Mackenzie. Upon completing its report, the Commission recommended that a new civilian non-police agency be established to perform the functions of a security service in Canada instead of