LAW ENFORCEMENT B.C. mayor prefers return to RCMP
Province urges Surrey to stick with local police service
The controversy over the future of Canada’s largest RCMP detachment appears to be stuck in neutral after a recommendation from the provincial government was shrugged off by the mayor of Surrey, B.C.
In a surprise blow to the Mounties, the B.C. government urged the City of Surrey to keep its fledgling municipal police service, rejecting a plan from civic leaders that would have seen the community go back to the RCMP for policing services.
But Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke quickly rebuffed the province’s non-binding recommendation, leaving little room to argue that progress has been made on the issue.
Surrey is a city of an estimated 600,000 people that is part of Metro Vancouver.
Mike Farnworth, minister of public safety and solicitor general, said Friday that moving ahead with the transition to the Surrey Police Service is the safest option, since it would avoid further strain on acute understaffing at the RCMP.
“Everyone deserves to be safe in their community and all British Columbians deserve secure, stable policing they can count on,” he said in a statement. “The people of Surrey are very frustrated by years of uncertainty over this debate, but we must move forward without reducing police presence when we need it the most.”
There are about 1,500 RCMP vacancies throughout the province. Reverting to the Surrey RCMP would exacerbate challenges faced by municipalities and Indigenous communities by increasing demand for officers and aggravate public-safety concerns, according to a report by B.C.’s director of police services.
The recommendation came five months after Locke and city council submitted their plan to the province, and after the SPS said it had already spent millions on setting up the service, including hiring hundreds of staff and deploying officers to front-line service.
After a close race last year, Locke was elected on a promise to reverse the transition to the Surrey Police Service, which was established in 2020 under former mayor Doug McCallum’s “Safe Surrey Coalition.”
On Friday, in a response to the provincial recommendation, Locke said, “Surrey made their decision … So far, I haven’t seen anything that would change our mind.”
Locke called the provincial report “half-baked” due to its heavy redactions.
She said the money the province has offered changes nothing, reaffirming council doesn’t have confidence in the SPS.
Locke added she hadn’t been able to look over the report in detail. The mayor also took a swipe at Farnworth.
“The past four years have been wrought with challenges, with lack of due diligence on the behalf of the city of Surrey, for sure, and on behalf of the solicitor general,” she said. “They don’t want the public to know that they never did do their due diligence in the first place.”
Locke accused the province and previous council of not conducting feasibility and impact studies before deciding to start a municipal service.
B.C.’s Ministry of Public Safety and the Attorney General told the Star it would “review the full report” with the city “when they are ready to do so,” citing confidential information about police operations that preclude releasing the report publicly.
B.C.’s recommendation was a break from precedent, as the provincial government generally does not reject major decisions of local governments.
While the City of Surrey is not legally bound to follow the province’s recommendation, if it chooses to retain the RCMP it must meet mandatory conditions. Those include working with a governmentappointed adviser, and submitting revised staffing plans that do not “prioritize Surrey RCMP restaffing over B.C. RCMP vacancies and resourcing needs.”
SPS Chief Const. Norm Lipinski released a statement Friday calling the recommendation “considered” and “evidence-based.”
Lipinski said the city has a rare opportunity to change the way policing in the city is conducted, taking a jab at the RCMP over yearslong concerns about its practices.
“Across Canada, citizens have made it clear that they want to see policing done differently — with more compassion and trauma-informed practice, and less reliance on use of force,” the statement reads. “At SPS we are seeking to go beyond the status quo of policing as we find new approaches and solutions to public safety.”
Lipinski said he welcomed the chance to work with the city council and mayor.
On Friday afternoon, Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald thanked Farnworth for his recognition of the RCMP’s work and said the force is committed to working with the current SPS members in the city.
“I will not politicize this decision,” McDonald said. “The RCMP will respect and await direction on the way forward.”
McDonald urged rank and file RCMP members to “not be distracted” by the controversy and know they are appreciated by the public.
Robert Gordon, a criminology professor at Simon Fraser University, said the province’s position is likely to be disappointing to the RCMP, because it could be seen as a lack of faith that the force can resolve key issues, including understaffing.
He said the years-long debate is a reflection of growing scrutiny of the role of the RCMP in regional policing in Canada.
“The argument for regional police services is that communities will have a better say over how things are done on the street level,” Gordon told the Star. “At the moment, RCMP resources are perceived by critics as applied in a somewhat haphazard manner.”