Allegations of RCMP bullying detailed in Surrey police court docs

In one incident, a mixedrace Surrey Police Service officer allegedly saw Surrey RCMP members play a game mocking a Black male suspect.

In another, an RCMP of‐ ficer was heard yelling "hide the food" before trying to touch a Surrey Police Service officer's stomach with his hand.

And in yet another, a Sur‐ rey Police Service officer - as‐ signed to work with the RCM‐ P's special victims unit as part of a transition from the federal force to a municipal squad - said she was told "the RCMP had not planned for SPS officers to stay bey‐ ond a week."

All three incidents are de‐ tailed - along with dozens more - in a summary of a Surrey Police Service (SPS) in‐ vestigative report filed in B.C. Supreme Court Thursday that concluded RCMP officers had subjected their munici‐ pal counterparts to "harass‐ ment and a toxic work envi‐ ronment"

"Harassment by the RCMP has negatively affected the health and welfare of SPS of‐ ficers," wrote the author of the report, SPS Insp. Bal Brach, who himself joined the SPS after a 25-year career with the RCMP.

As an example, Brach then cited the experience of the officer who served with the special victims unit (SVU) - a 14-year veteran of the New Westminster police who claimed the assignment led to her being unjustly barred from working with the Surrey detachment.

"She felt that her time de‐ ployed to SVU was dehuman‐ izing, full of hatred and trick‐ ery and was oppressive and emotionally and psychologi‐ cally exhausting," Brach wrote.

"She now has increased anxiety in the workplace and fears that her professional reputation, that she worked hard to build for nearly 15 years, has been slandered because of the ill intentions of [eight RCMP non-commis‐ sioned officers]."

Three SPS officers bar‐ red from detachment

Brach's unredacted 10page summary was filed with the court despite arguments from a government lawyer who claimed making them public could cause "undue public concern about the state of affairs at the Surrey RCMP detachment."

The document is part of an affidavit filed by Surrey Police Service union Presi‐ dent Rick Stewart in a failed attempt by the union for in‐ tervenor status in the city's bid to overturn Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth's decision ordering a transition to a municipal police force.

Hundreds of SPS officers have been hired to work alongside members of the Surrey RCMP as the two forces prepare for the munic‐ ipal squad to take over as Surrey's police of jurisdiction at the end of November.

According to the docu‐ ments, the events leading to Brach's investigation began with the RCMP's decision to end the assignments of three senior SPS officers - including the woman who has been as‐ signed to the special victims unit.

"The termination of the assignments resulted in the SPS [officers] being barred from working with the Surrey detachment," Brach wrote.

"The events and circum‐ stances related to the termi‐ nation of the SPS [officers] and the experiences of the three witness officers de‐ ployed to the Surrey detach‐ ment SVU suggested the

RCMP had breached its oblig‐ ation to provide a healthy workplace for SPS staff."

'Too many 'Black people' What follows is a litany of complaints from Brach's in‐ terviews with 12 SPS officers, all of whom joined the mu‐ nicipal police force after serv‐ ing with other Canadian police departments, includ‐ ing the RCMP, where some of them spent decades.

The officers claimed RCMP colleagues subjected them to ridicule, intimidation and demeaning behaviour. They also accused RCMP offi‐ cers of misuse or abuse of authority.

In one case, an officer who spent 20 years with Van‐ couver police said RCMP management denied re‐ quests by members of the police mental health out‐ reach team to "ride as twoperson cars" after a Burnaby RCMP officer was stabbed to death while making a well‐ ness check.

The same mixed-race SPS officer - who came to the mu‐ nicipal force after 15 years with the Toronto Police Ser‐ vice - claimed that an RCMP or City of Surrey employee said they "disliked the city of Toronto as there are too many 'Black people' in the city."

Brach's report also in‐ cludes two photographs one of a cluttered storage area in the Surrey detach‐ ment where a Surrey Police Service officer was forced to work, and the other of a sign on the desk of a senior RCMP officer reading 'Keep the RCMP in Surrey.'"

A policing void?

Beyond the investigative report, Stewart's affidavit al‐ so contains the collective agreement between the Sur‐ rey Police Board and the Sur‐ rey Police Union, which stipu‐ lates SPS officers receive 18 months notice in the event of a decision to reverse the transition to a municipal force.

The judicial review is ex‐ pected to wrap at the end of the week. In its arguments, the City of Surrey claims Farnworth is trying to impose a municipal force on the city that will increase the annual cost of policing by at least $75 million - a hike of about 46 per cent.

The city's lawyers claim Farnworth's decision is un‐ reasonable and is undermin‐ ing the democratic will of Surrey taxpayers who voted in 2022 to stick with the RCMP.

The city claims Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke and Pre‐ mier David Eby had reached a deal to proceed, but that Farnworth then "pulled the rug out" from under Surrey voters in July 2023 by con‐ cluding that a switch back to the RCMP would endanger public safety.

The province fears a re‐ turn to the RCMP could throw Surrey into a policing void if newly hired municipal officers leave en masse once it becomes clear their jobs are doomed. And pulling RCMP officers from other ju‐ risdictions to fill the gaps could create problems else‐ where.

Dawn Roberts, a spokesperson with the B.C. RCMP, said Thursday in an email she could not com‐ ment on the allegations in Brach's report because the RCMP does not have a copy of it nor the affidavits filed in court.

"The RCMP is committed to providing a healthy, safe and respectful work place for all employees, free of harass‐ ment and discrimination," Roberts wrote.

"Surrey RCMP and SPS of‐ ficers have worked together in the detachment for over two years and have done so with professionalism. The RCMP takes all respectful workplace allegations seri‐ ously, and has robust mea‐ sures in place for any issues raised by personnel in the detachment, including RCMP members and assigned Sur‐ rey Police Service officers."