The new city council in Surrey, B.C., has made its first major vote, opting to keep the RCMP instead of moving forward with the transition to a municipal police force.
Staff will now present a report to B.C. Public Safety Minister and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth on how the SPS would be dismantled.
Earlier Monday, the Surrey Police Board released a “financial backgrounder” it said showed scrapping the transition would cost more than $180 million in sunk costs and severance liability.
Board executive director Melissa Granum told Global News she questioned whether council had all the information it needed, particularly around finances and human resources issues, to make an informed choice.
Get daily National news
“Those re very, very expensive implications for the city, should the province decide to reverse this transition,” she said.
Locke said the city had yet to see those numbers, but that if council voted to disband the SPS, city staff would do their own complete financial analysis which would be included in their report to the province.
“The numbers that the Surrey Police Board are releasing as of today have never been released, so I can’t quantify anything they say because they’ve never shared them with us up until now,” she said.
“But I will tell you absolutely it is still in my mind the right thing to do to remain with the RCMP of jurisdiction.”
Scrapping the police transition was a key election promise during Locke’s 2022 campaign, but the plan has not been universally popular.
More than 90 per cent of Surrey Police Union (SPU) members have signed a pledge stating that “if the Surrey Police Service ceases to exist, I have no intention to apply to nor join any RCMP detachment as my next career move.”
“The Mayor’s comments demonstrate the disconnect that continues to exist between City Hall politics and those who joined the Surrey Police Service to serve all Surrey residents,” SPU president Rick Stewart said.
“Our officers have voluntarily signed this declaration because of a number of specific reasons related to the RCMP, and as such, Mayor Locke’s hiring plan shows no regard for the will of our members.”
Speaking to reporters on Nov. 10, Locke said she was “disappointed” with the SPS union’s tactics and “the public has spoken” on keeping the RCMP in the city.
“We’re not going to be dictated to by a startup police union on how we’re going to move forward,” Locke said.
“We are going to reestablish the RCMP as the police of jurisdiction in this city and that’s what we’re doing moving forward.”
Comments