This Friday (Nov. 29), Surrey Police Service takes over as the police of jurisdiction in Surrey.
The transition has been a long time coming. It’s been more than six years since Mayor Doug McCallum stormed back into city hall after a 13-year absence, backed by seven councillors. They voted at the inaugural meeting of the new council in early November 2018 to swap Surrey RCMP for a brand-new civic police force.
Oh, what a twisted road the citizens of Surrey have traversed since that time. Despite a complete lack of consultation with residents, the NDP government approved council’s motion to move ahead with SPS in 2019. Continued pushback caused Solicitor General Mike Farnworth to have former judge and attorney-general Wally Oppal look over the city’s plans. Both he and Farnworth insisted there were no major issues and refused to allow a referendum, which would give residents a say.
Brenda Locke, along with former RCMP officer Jack Hundial, had been part of McCallum’s slate. They left, and vocally raised concerns about the transition. Locke was elected mayor in 2022, defeating McCallum by 973 votes. Her new Surrey Connect slate has a 5-4 majority on council and attempted to cancel the transition, only to be overruled by Farnworth. The government changed the Police Act, and a lawsuit against the province was thrown out.
After many loud recriminations, council members signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) which was insisted on by the province. Since that time earlier this year, council members won’t say a word about the transition, in return for a promise of $250 million to help pay for it.
The seven NDP MLAs in Surrey were silent about the transition throughout the entire controversy. Two of them retired before the October election, three were defeated, and two others held onto their seats. In the case of Surrey-Guildford MLA Garry Begg, who is a former RCMP officer, he finally won his seat weeks after the election. A judicial recount gave him a 22-vote margin, and gave the NDP a majority government. He is now the solicitor-general, in charge of policing. He won’t be able to stay silent.
Former mayor Bob Bose believes taxpayers are being kept in the dark. Despite his long involvement with municipal politics (he was first elected in 1978, and served nine years as mayor), he can’t get any information from anyone at city hall.
The amount of money spent on policing is huge. In one of her last public communications before going silent, Locke said in a statement on May 13 that council had approved $221.6 million for policing in 2024. The statement went on to say that the Police Act changes “have serious implications for municipal budgets throughout B.C.”
Surrey Police Board, which oversees SPS, is appointed by the province and is not accountable to taxpayers. Council will get the budget that the board passes, and its only role will be to approve it or reject it. It is unlikely any questions will be asked by councillors due to the NDA.
In Vancouver, the police board is asking for $434 million for policing next year, up $23 million from the 2024 budget. The 2024 budget jumped by 8.44 per cent. Bose notes that, under the RCMP, Surrey council had a public safety committee which made suggestions to the RCMP and got regular feedback about policing. That disappears under the new system.
“Council is not permitted to discuss the issue (of policing),” he says. ”Farnworth acted in bad faith and screwed up the Surrey Police file.”
He is correct. SPS will be the police of record, but citizens of Surrey will not be kept informed about how much it costs, what they have to pay in taxes and what their elected officials really think about it.
The NDA agreement should be scrapped. The shining light of information is necessary. Otherwise, SPS will never get the public support that all police forces need to do their jobs properly.
Frank Bucholtz writes twice monthly on political issues for Black Press Media publications.
