We now know how much Surrey residents will pay their new police chief every year.
Norm Lipinski was announced as the chief constable for the city’s incoming municipal police service in November.
According to the Surrey Police Board, Lipinski will earn a base salary of $285,000, with “potential rewards” bringing the compensation to nearly $335,000 per year.
The board said it determined the chief’s salary through a comparative examination of police executive pay across Canada, to establish its own “philosophy and structure.”
It said the chief and three deputy chiefs aren’t the highest paid in the country, but they aren’t the lowest either.
By comparison, according to the National Police Federation, an assistant RCMP commissioner — equal to a chief — would make about $220,000 a year if achieving all benchmarks.
Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer, by comparison, earned $363,000 in 2019.
The Surrey Police Board also issued an unusual statement Thursday, stating that “many competing interests” coming to the foreground during the police transition “has led to misinformation being circulated which is of considerable concern to us.”
“While we support diversity of opinion, it’s important to ensure information is available to the public.”
Recently the police service launched a website, Facebook page and Twitter account.