VANCOUVER—A drill instructor gets in the face of a cadet, telling him he needs to pipe up when answering her. “There’s no room for meek or mild in this job,” she tells him.

Later, cadets march in unison in the “drill hall.” During role-playing scenarios, they learn how to wrestle a suspect into submission and what commands to yell at someone wielding a knife.

The scenes are from a new video promoted this week on the RCMP’s social media channels. The 20-minute video, produced by a U.S.-based business news website, offers a rare, behind-the-scenes look at life inside the force’s 26-week training academy in Regina.

But critics say that if the video reflects the RCMP’s focus in the year 2020, the national police force is in trouble.