Surrey’s two Safe Surrey Coalition councillors are accusing Mayor Brenda Locke and the RCMP of “jeopardizing public safety” by blocking the deployment of 33 “experienced” Surrey Police Service officers.
A press release issued April 24 by the SSC alleges “the deployment has been stalled due to the mayor’s political agenda, endangering Surrey residents and jeopardizing the goal of the SPS to increase the number of boots on the ground to prevent crime.”
Coun. Doug Elford accuses Locke of “creating a double standard” by asking the provincial government for more police while “preventing” the 33 from patrolling the city’s streets.
“We have been advocating for more boots on the ground to protect Surrey residents, and these 33 experienced officers are ready to be deployed,” a statement attributed to Elford reads. “It is unacceptable that the RCMP is hindering the deployment of these officers and jeopardizing public safety.
“The safety of Surrey residents is not a bargaining chip for political gain,” said Elford. “The mayor and the RCMP must prioritize public safety over politics and allow these experienced SPS officers to patrol our streets to prevent crime.”
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Coun. Mandeep Nagra called for the SPS officers’ immediate deployment. The two councillors also vow to call on the federal and provincial governments to intervene if this doesn’t happen.
“If we want to prevent more incidents of violent crime, we need more boots on the ground patrolling our streets,” a statement attributed to Nagra reads. “The broken RCMP model has fewer boots on the ground, and the recent incidents of violence demonstrate that we need more resources to keep our city safe.”
A statement issued by the RCMP, attributed to Assistant Commissioner Brian Edwards, in charge of the Surrey RCMP, notes that the joint RCMP/SPS HR Plan – which includes SPS deployments – is overseen by a Surrey Policing Trilateral Transition Committee (SPTTC) that includes representatives from the City of Surrey as well as the provincial and federal governments.
“A decision from the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General on the future of policing in Surrey is anticipated in the very near future, which will guide next steps in regards to staffing. Surrey RCMP is currently fully staffed, with approximately 186 SPS officers deployed alongside RCMP officers,” Edwards’ statement reads.
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Locke echoed this.
“The trilateral committee makes the decision on the deployment. It’s just a demonstration of their own ignorance,” she said of Nagra and Elford, “because they also know that deploying police resources is the responsibility of the RCMP, they are the POJ, they know that, Elford and Nagra know that, so this is just them playing politics. But the RCMP also know that it’s my expectation that they do their job and that includes the SPS officers. That is already in place.”
Asked who made the decision to not deploy the 33 officers, Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth told reporters in Victoria Tuesday morning that “there is a plan in place to ensure safe and effective policing in Surrey, it has 734 officers is the base. The operational decisions are made by the RCMP who are the police of jurisdiction.”
Edwards said Surrey Mounties continue to work closely with “all our partners, including the integrated teams and the Metro Vancouver Transit Police to “address the recent incidents on transit, including joint patrols of transit hubs.”
Public safety, Edwards said, has been the RCMP’s “primary focus” during the city’s policing transition and “remains our top priority. RCMP and SPS officers continue to work side by side, responding to calls and serving the community.
“Through collective efforts, violent crime decreased in 2022 and is down 14 per cent so far in 2023. Claims to the contrary is a blatant attempt to generate public fear, and disrespectful to all those impacted by the incidents, the judicial processes underway, and all officers working in Surrey,” Edwards concluded.
But in an April 18 letter to Locke and city council from Jessie Sunner, vice-chairwoman of the Surrey Police Board, Sunner noted that the HR plan – executed on May 4, 2022 under the direction of the trilateral committee – and “subsequent discussions with the RCMP” – provided that “35 SPS Experienced Officers would be deployed as Cohort 8 in March 2023.”
This number, she wrote, included 14 SPS recruits that were scheduled to graduate from the Justice Institute on March 10, 2023 but in February the RCMP advised the SPS it would accept the 14 graduating officers for deployment but no “Experienced Officers” would be deployed in March.
“The parties held subsequent discussions on the RCMP’s unilateral decision that were unsuccessful in changing the RCMP’s decision,” Sunner told Locke and council.
“The unilateral decision of the RCMP to accept no SPS Experienced Officers for deployment in March and to deny all lateral moves of SPS Officers, put SPS behind in fulfilling the agreed upon HR Plan,” Sunner protested. “The HR Plan stipulates that SPS should have deployed 260 Assigned Officers by March of 2023. To date, SPS has deployed 220 officers, 40 less than the agreed to number.”
Sunner charged that “the RCMP’s decision” to not to accept SPS Officers for positions “previously agreed to” in the HR Plan poses “serious financial implications resulting from the duplication of positions and the under utilization of policing resources. The monthly carrying cost (salaries and benefits) of the 33 resources that the RCMP is unwilling to accept for deployment is $553K per month.”
She also told Locke and council that the Surrey RCMP continues to “put out regular calls for overtime because minimum staffing levels cannot be achieved, adding additional cost to the Surrey policing model and additional stress to both RCMP and SPS Officers.
“Approximately 33 SPS officers remain available for immediate deployment. The deployment of these officers would bring SPS closer to fulfilling the terms of the HR Plan and relieve the financial burden on the City to pay for the duplication of positions resulting from the RCMP’s failure to adhere to the HR Plan,” Sunner wrote.
The SPS hired the “Experienced Officers” in good faith, she noted “to fulfil its obligations under the HR Plan. The RCMP’s refusal to accept these SPS Officers means that they cannot work in the positions they were hired to fill. Surrey residents are not well served by the RCMP’s decision.”
Meantime, the SSC press release states Elford’s and Nagra’s “condemnation comes as Surrey faces a surge in violent crime, including gang shootings, multiple stabbings on transit, and an act of terrorism by ISIS in recent weeks. The deployment of experienced SPS officers could help prevent such incidents in the future.
“As the police board chair, it is Mayor Locke’s responsibility to ensure that Surrey is safe. Elford and Nagra believe that the mayor has failed in her duty to protect the community and is putting the safety of Surrey residents at risk,” the press release states.
Locke noted that in the previous council Elford and Nagra voted against any increases to the Surrey RCMP.
“For four years, no additional officers,” she said. “And that went back to 2018. In that period of time, we increased the population of this city by over 54,000 people and they said no police for four years. So to me, this is just them playing political games with the recent tragedy and I think that is so disappointing that they would do that, adding that kind of pain to families by suggesting that those unpredictable events would have been prevented, that’s an all-time low for them but certainly for politics.”
Locke called the SSC press release “disgraceful.
“This is just them playing politics with really tragic events that have happened in our city,” Locke told the Now-Leader on Monday. “I’m actually disgusted by this press release. It’s shocking to me that they would be that cold-hearted to put that out. As I said it’s a new low, a new low even for them.”
The mayor was was still at press time expecting Farnworth to render his long-awaited decision this week on whether Surrey should retain the RCMP as its police of jurisdiction or if the SPS should replace it.
The next meeting of the Surrey Police Board, of which Locke is the chairwoman, is set for 4 p.m. today (April 27). Items on the agenda include year-to-date expenditures and updates from Chief Constable Norm Lipinski.
tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com
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