Former Yukon MP Audrey McLaughlin is calling the new RCMP reality TV show "a bad idea gone, well, badder.”

McLaughlin has written a letter to Commissioner Bob Paulson at RCMP National Headquarters in Ottawa raising concerns about the show currently being filmed in Whitehorse. (See the full letter on p. 6.)

McLaughlin told the Star today she was walking her dog on Hoge Street in downtown Whitehorse Wednesday evening when she saw a woman being arrested by the RCMP.

"I looked back and I saw a guy with a clipboard crouching behind a vehicle, and then I noticed a sound system and cameras,” she said.

Starting earlier this week, the Yukon RCMP have been filming for a reality TV show, produced by an American television company.

At press time early this afternoon, the RCMP sent out a notification that they have suspended filming until they've had an opportunity to discuss recent feed back with the production company. There was no indication how long those discussions might take.

McLaughlin, a former leader of the federal New Democratic Party, said she has no problem with the way the police did their job in arresting the woman.

However, she questions the value of doing that while the cameras are rolling.

The woman was clearly distraught, angry and yelling.

"How can she possibly give permission for them to be filming her?” asked McLaughlin, who was the Yukon's MP from 1987 to 1997.

Both the RCMP and the production company, True Entertainment, have said publicly if a person does not sign a waiver after he or she is filmed, the footage will never be aired.

McLaughlin said she received different information from two of the production staff at the scene.

One told her the woman's face would be blurred before airing if the waiver was not signed.

A second said the footage would not be aired.

In an interview this morning, the Yukon RCMP's David Gilbert reiterated that if a waiver is not signed, the footage will not be telecast in any capacity.

He could not confirm whether the woman in question signed the waiver.

Gilbert said the police are aware of the concerns surrounding the show.

He said there are discussions planned for today with show producers to "very carefully look at what's going on.”

McLaughlin said she was not the only onlooker disturbed by what she saw.

Neighbours who came out to see what was going on were also bothered by it, she said.

"Not one person said, ‘Oh, isn't that interesting?'”

McLaughlin said she considers what happen "an intrusion of privacy.”

She also questions the amount of resources used for one arrested.

"It took two police cars (one carrying the second producer) to arrest the woman,” she said, wondering whether the officers' time could have been put to better use.

"I realize police have a tough job, and now this is making it tougher.”

McLaughlin said she was so affected by what she saw that she arrived home shaking.

"I don't think it is our role to try people on television. We have a justice system for that.”

After she went to the media with her concerns, McLaughlin said she received a phone call from Yukon RCMP Chief Supt. Peter Clark.

He told her he appreciated that feedback, and that Wednesday's incident wasn't supposed to be what the show was about, she said.

McLaughlin isn't the first person to raise concerns about the show.

Community groups have also spoken publicly with concerns about how complex situations will be displayed on television.