The group representing some 20,000 RCMP officers across the country is decrying a decision by the B.C. government to force Surrey’s hand in its hotly-debated police transition.
Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth directed the city to cast aside its RCMP detachment and complete the transition to a municipal police force. It’s a “disappointing but not surprising” decision, said the National Police Federation.
“This has always been about politics over facts and evidence,” said federation CEO Brian Sauvé in a Wednesday news release.
“Our members have been living and working in uncertainty since late 2018 and have been stabilizing a fledgling police service since July 2020. There is still no end in sight.”
Farnworth said the City of Surrey had failed to prove it could meet his conditions for keeping the RCMP as the police of jurisdiction, in the midst of an RCMP staffing shortage across the province. Those conditions, he explained Wednesday, were meant to ensure that Surrey did not drain RCMP officers from other jurisdictions or compromise the level of policing and safety in Surrey in the process.
The municipality must now complete a transition to the Surrey Police Service (SPS), which currently has about 400 staff members, some 230 of whom are deployed frontline officers.
Sauvé called on Farnworth and Premier David Eby to prepare an “expeditious transition plan that includes a clear and imminent end date” for the Surrey RCMP.
“This plan must not prioritize SPS restaffing at the expense of RCMP vacancies Canada-wide, consistent with the statement made by Canada’s premiers, including Premier Eby, on July 12 concerning RCMP recruitment challenges and staffing shortages,” he said.
“We also ask the Commanding Officer of the B.C. RCMP to ensure individualized HR plans for each Surrey detachment member reflecting their career aspirations and geographic postings of choice, which may be anywhere in Canada.”
Surrey’s Mounties did not hold a media availability to address Farnworth’s decision on Wednesday. Their officer in charge, however, called SPS Chief Const. Norm Lipinski to “congratulate” him and assure cooperation, Lipinski told reporters.
Since the SPS put boots on the ground late in 2021, at least 140 RCMP officers have left the detachment.
Sauvé said the Mounties have an admirable track record in Surrey, with an 11-per-cent reduction in the Crime Severity Index, documented by Statistics Canada between 2019 and 2021.
Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke, who supported the SPS in 2018, later campaigned on a promise to keep the RCMP in Surrey, citing subsequent concerns about transparency and the taxpayer burden of having a municipal force. Ottawa subsidizes the RCMP contract for municipalities, and in Surrey, the SPS was estimated to come with an extra $30 million annual tab.
Locke said Wednesday she intends to “explore” the city’s options and ask for an in-person meeting with Farnworth to ask how he intends to “compensate” for the significant tax burden his decision places on Surrey residents. The public safety minister has repeated his offer to provide $150 million in supporting funds to Surrey.
Lipinski said next steps in the transition 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.” The police chief called it a “new era” for policing in Surrey, and said the more efficient the transition is, the more “fiscally responsible” it will be for residents.
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