 An article in a special RCMP issue of the Canadian history magazine The Beaver called "Francis J. Dickens, An Ordinary Officer" gives a balanced picture, pointing out his twelve years of service during which time many men in the fledgling police force on the plains deserted or were discharged for misconduct, while others have gone so far as to say that he was partly responsible for the deterioration in relations between the NWMP and the Blackfoot in the 1880s!The events surrounding Frog Lake and the battle of Fort Pitt are treated in "The Temptations of Big Bear" (1973) by Rudy Wiebe.In recent decades, Francis Dickens has been depicted as a comic figure.