Surrey’s South Asian faith leaders launch campaign for local police force

A counter-campaign to establish a Surrey municipal police force has been launched one day after a pro-RCMP group collected nearly 3,000 signatures at Canada Day celebrations in the city.

The letter is signed by several leaders of Sikh and Hindu temples and urges Solicitor General Mike Farnworth to side with a municipal police force.

The leaders acknowledge that the South Asian community has been significantly impacted by growing violence in the city.

“If the local police come, the local police will make more decisions, and if they need more officers, the accountability will be there,” said Satish Kumar, president of the Laxmi Narayan temple.

“We are tired of waiting for real change in Surrey’s policing, which is why all of our executives have signed this letter to Mr. Farnworth. The B.C. government must listen to the people who voted in favour of Mayor Doug McCallum’s proposal last October,” reads the letter.

Kumar believes a municipal force is the best move because decisions will be made at a local level.

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“That’s why we’re thinking, 100 per cent our community is thinking, local police is better than RCMP,” said Kumar.

Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum rode to victory on his pledge to create a new police force.

Jonathan Ross, a spokesperson for the group of temple leaders, once worked with the Mayor, but says McCallum didn’t influence the temples’ decision to speak out.

“I haven’t spoken to the mayor at all, I haven’t spoken to him generally since I believe 2014,” he told Global News.

The city’s transition plan was presented to the government last month. Farnworth said the province will not rush its decision.

“This is not going to be done to an artificial deadline or because someone said it must be done by this date. It’s going to be done when the work is done, the analysis is done, and it’s going to be done properly,” he said.

-With files from Tanya Beja

Below, read the letter faith leaders in Surrey sent to Mike Farnworth:

Letter to Minister Mike Farnworth From Surrey Temple Leaders by JesseFerreras on Scribd