B.C.’s public safety minister ended months of uncertainty for Surrey residents on Wednesday, forcing Surrey’s mayor and council to reverse its decision to keep the RCMP, and instead complete the transition to its municipal police force.
In a rare public appearance since the political debacle began, Surrey Police Service Chief Const. Norm Lipinski said he appreciates the “reaffirmation” that his force is the safest option for Surrey and all of British Columbia.
“There is no doubt that this is great news for our 400 employees and their families, but I also believe it’s great news for Surrey residents,” said SPS Chief Const. Norm Lipinski at the press conference.
“This is a rare opportunity to redefine policing for Surrey.”
Lipinski recognized the “division” the police transition has caused, but said he’s optimistic that ensuing collaboration between the SPS, its board and the City of Surrey will result in the “highest levels of public safety.”
“Frontline SPS and RCMP officers have set the example. Every day, they put aside differences in their respective organizations and focus on the necessary work that needs to be done,” he said.
Next steps include the creation of a budget for the SPS, a return to hiring, and deployment of the force’s resources, “done with the corresponding demobilization of RCMP officers,” Lipinski added. The more efficient that process is, the more “fiscally responsible” the project will be for Surrey residents, he said.
Surrey’s policing conflict dates back to the days of former mayor Doug McCallum, who pledged to cast aside the Surrey RCMP detachment and moved to replace it with a new municipal force. At the time, current Mayor Brenda Locke supported the plan.
The SPS was born amid some public and political protest, and is in the process of becoming the city’s police of jurisdiction. The force put its first boots on the ground late in 2021.
Locke, however, had grown increasingly concerned about the transparency of decision-making within council, and the costs of the SPS — estimated to be at least $30 million more per year than keeping the RCMP.
Last fall, she won Surrey’s municipal election on a promise to keep the RCMP as the police of jurisdiction and disband the SPS. She has since doubled down and tripled down on that pledge, despite Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth’s April recommendation that Surrey proceed with the SPS.
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Locke refused to take media questions on Wednesday. In a news release, she called Farnworth’s decision “disappointing, misguided and based on inaccurate assumptions.”
“What has occurred today is the undermining of a local government duly elected by its residents. The actions of the Solicitor General should serve as a warning to the autonomy of all municipalities in B.C.,” she said.
McCallum, however, Surrey’s former mayor and SPS champion, applauded Farnworth’s decision, claiming it demonstrates his own commitment, and that of his Safe Surrey Coalition, to fulfilling their 2018 election promise.
“It’s really exciting to see what we achieved from four years ago when we made the decision in council,” he said in a Wednesday press conference.
“The Surrey Police Service truly is a community police service. It’s going to be an example that is used around the world, and I say that not lightly.”
It’s “time to move on,” he added, thanking the Surrey RCMP for its service to the city. Asked by reporters, he said he had no current plans to run for office again.
Current Surrey Coun. Mandeep Nagra, part of the Safe Surrey Coalition, meanwhile called on everyone “to come together, heal wounds, and work collaboratively for the best public safety for all of Surrey’s residents and neighborhoods.”
The province’s April recommendation against keeping the RCMP cited provincewide staffing shortages within the Mounties. Farnworth’s key concern was that if Surrey replenished its RCMP detachment, it would pull from other detachments, possibly creating or exacerbating safety concerns.
He gave the City of Surrey a set of mandatory staffing, recruitment and cost requirements to meet in order to keep the RCMP. He said Wednesday the municipality had failed to convince him it could meet those terms.
“The city chose the path they wanted to take and they presented their plan for how they proposed to do it. The question in front of me was, is their plan safe?” he said at a press conference.
“Unfortunately, the City of Surrey has failed to meet mandatory requirements to go back to the RCMP. That puts people at risk.”
The RCMP has lost about 140 members since the SPS kicked off. According to B.C.’s Policing and Security branch, however, the SPS could take three more years to hire enough officers to act as a “standalone” police force without destabilizing police services in the city.
Lipinski said he believes the SPS’s advantage over the RCMP includes a “predictable staffing plan,” local accountability through the SPS board, and a quicker response time to community needs.
“By way of example, body-worn cameras — and I’m in favour of that,” he said. “As we move forward, we can certainly implement that in a relatively speedy fashion, but there’s a lot of work that still needs to be done.”
The police chief said “change is difficult,” and offered a shoutout to the RCMP detachment, whose members have dealt with the uncertainty for four years. He and Assistant Commissioner Brian Edwards, who leads the Surrey RCMP, spoke Wednesday and had a “very professional, very progressive discussion.”
Lipinski, too, was a former RCMP assistant commissioner.
A transition to the SPS at this stage is estimated to cost $235 million, plus the additional annual $30 million above the bill for the subsidized RCMP.
Farnworth reaffirmed his offer of $150 million in financial support to Surrey on Wednesday, to minimize the impact on the city’s taxpayers.
“Moving forward with the Surrey police will prevent a crisis in policing in the City of Surrey, without enough police officers on the ground to keep people in Surrey safe and a reduction of police officers across the province,” he said.
“Effective collaboration between the city, the Surrey Police Service and the RCMP is essential to continue the transition, and I have made it clear to all parties that I expect them to work together to achieve our common goal of safety for people in Surrey.”
Lipinski said he believes the SPS could be the police of jurisdiction in Surrey in less than a year. There are about 230 officers on the frontline right now, and the SPS will need about 350 to be deployed, he added.
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