WATCH: Surrey’s top cop is asking city council to approve the hiring of 47 more officers. But how will the city pay for them? Catherine Urquhart reports.
Earlier this year, Surrey approved the hiring of 95 new cops – but that may not be enough.
READ MORE: Surrey to add 95 RCMP officers over next five years
Surrey RCMP Chief Superintendent Bill Fordy has requested an additional 47 new members for the detachment, based on the results of two independent studies.
“After analyzing significant amounts of qualitative and quantitative date, both reports concluded that Surrey Detachment requires additional front-line police officers to support the level of policing service that we strive to provide for the City of Surrey,” he said in a statement.
The police committee approved the request, but the extra cops would be hired over three years, the measure still has to be passed by council – and where the additional funds will come from is still unknown.
Surrey’s contenders for mayor were quick to comment.
“They need to come in right away. Not in a period of four or five years, but next year. Our community does feel unsafe,” said Doug McCallum.
“We initiated a process that could take some time. Anyone saying they could arrive in a year, that’s untrue,” said councillor and independent candidate Barinder Raosde.
“The number of officers being trained…would not be able to produce the number of officers that Surrey requires.”
“We’ve had very good responsive policing. But the numbers we have with our growth don’t facilitate proactive policing,” said Linda Hepner, who suggested the city could pay for them through the Surrey City Development Corporation.
If passed, Surrey’s RCMP detachment would eventually have 815 regular members.
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