I guess that you don't want people having to stop and decipher two sets of letters on somebody's jacket in the middle of a crisis situation!

We (or at least I) don't really decipher, as such, we are just used to seeing both English and French form (in many cases, not just the RCMP). So whether I see RCMP or GRC, I think cops, if that makes any sense. Just like whether I see "milk" or "lait" I know I can put in on my cereal.

And it's a habit that if you pick up a container of something and attempt to read the label, and you don't understand it right off the bat, then you turn it over, looking for the English side (or French, depending!). This makes things really complicated when the package is from another country (for example, my husband's Norwegian handcream) - you turn it around several times before you realize there isn't ANYTHING on it in English!