It has been three years since a gunman murdered a soldier at the Canadian National War Memorial in Ottawa and then charged into Parliament's Centre Block.
The attacker was killed, but the incident exposed deficiencies in Parliament Hill security. Based on recent evidence, much of what needed to be done remains outstanding.
The whole point of creating the Parliamentary Protective Service (PPS) out of the tangle of agencies tasked with securing Parliament was to establish a single force with clear, unified responsibilities.
Instead, as The Globe and Mail's recent reporting reveals, it is more accurately described as a dysfunctional mess.
The root of the problem appears to be a rushed, slapdash integration, worsened by an ongoing labour dispute.
It seems the agreement that preceded the PPS's founding stipulated no jobs were to be lost when civilian employees who took care of security inside the Parliament buildings were integrated with the RCMP members who traditionally kept watch outside.
The RCMP, which owns operational responsibility, evidently feels hamstrung in imposing standards on longstanding civilian employees and their recalcitrant union leadership.
Meanwhile, erstwhile members of the House of Commons and Senate protective services resent being told what to do by the Mounties and say they need more resources and training.
Oh, and they would very much like to be considered peace officers under the law, but would rather not submit to the type of routine background checks required everywhere else in the country.
No one is in favour of turning Parliament Hill into an armed camp; we mustn't let one tragic incident turn our society's paramount public institution upside down.
But we do need a professional, properly trained and, above all, smoothly functioning Parliamentary police.
The federal NDP has long called for the PPS, which has a not-inconsiderable annual budget of $65 million, to report to the Commons rather than to the executive branch.
If that can help fix what ails the nascent force, then great. These issues urgently need to be resolved. Lives could depend on it.