Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke announced Monday that the city will be taking another step forward to stop the police transition to the Surrey Police Service.
“Today we are taking a significant step to stop the NDP police service,” Locke said at a press conference.
“As a result of the province’s attempted police takeover, which would require a double-digit NDP tax hike on Surrey taxpayers, we are challenging the constitutionally of the province’s latest legislation.
“Surrey voters deserve to have their voices heard.”
Locke said the city will be filing an additional court submission to stop the latest legislation.
Once filed, this will be the second lawsuit filed by the City of Surrey against the provincial government. The details of this second lawsuit have not been revealed but Locke said the goal is to make sure Surrey retains the RCMP.
The court still has not ruled on the first lawsuit filed.
Last week, British Columbia’s public safety minister and solicitor general put the Surrey Police Board on ice, in the latest move to force the city to complete its transition to a municipal police force.
Mike Farnworth announced that he had suspended all of the board’s members, and that former Abbotsford police chief Mike Serr has been appointed as administrator to fulfil their functions on the Surrey Police Board.
In October, Farnworth introduced legislation to force the city to complete its transition to the Surrey Police Service (SPS) from the RCMP. The legislation comes with provincial powers to appoint an administrator to replace board members and act in their stead.
Locke said she and her team ran on a platform that was clear that they would stop the police transition and keep the RCMP in Surrey.
“We said the original estimates regarding the transition timelines and costs were completely unrealistic and we were right,” she said.
“After the municipal election, the province said that we had the option to put forward a plan to keep the RCMP.
“It is now clear that the province had other plans in mind. This government does not have the right to run roughshod on every local government that doesn’t bend to their way.”
On Monday afternoon, Farnworth said he found Locke’s words to be “incredibly disrespectful.
“We have men and women who do a very difficult job, we’ve had tragedies involving police officers this year, funerals.
“So for the mayor to say ‘oh, it’s an NDP police service’, quite frankly, I think that’s a disgrace.”
Locke has also stated that if Serr presents his report and she is not happy with his recommendations, Locke said she will reject the upcoming budget.
However, Farnworth said he is not concerned about that.
“The reality is there are mechanisms in place under the Police Act to deal with those kinds of situations,” he said.
Farnworth added that if the city says it’s not happy with the budget, under the Police Act, that will then land on the desk of the director of police services to make a decision.
“We don’t want to argue about the latest legal challenge,” he said. “Not once more. I think it’s just an example of delaying tactics by the mayor. And I think all it does is cost taxpayers money and it is a waste of money and a waste of time.”
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