Surrey city council cast an historic vote Monday night on the next course of action for Surrey鈥檚 embattled policing transition. On a 5-4 vote, council decided to maintain the Surrey RCMP as this city鈥檚 police of jurisdiction instead of forging ahead with the Surrey Police Service.
City staff will now prepare a plan for Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth鈥檚 approval to that end, as well as issue a letter on council鈥檚 behalf to the Surrey Police Board 鈥渢o pause all new hiring and expenditures pending further Council direction.鈥�
Mayor Brenda Locke and her Surrey Connect five-member majority campaigned on keeping the RCMP.
She and councillors Harry Bains, Rob Stutt, Pardeep Kooner and Gordon Hepner voted in favour, while Safe Surrey Coalition councillors Doug Elford and Mandeep Nagra voted against keeping the RCMP as did Surrey First councillors Mike Bose and Linda Annis.
Annis moved an amendment toward staging a referendum, but her amendment was defeated.
鈥淲e have no idea where we鈥檙e at with this transition, there鈥檚 been very little public consultation,鈥� Annis said. 鈥淲e have no idea what the cost would be if we were to revert back to the RCMP. This is the largest issue that probably any single city council will ever make.鈥�
鈥淚 think there鈥檚 absolutely nothing wrong with engaging with the public and asking for their opinion,鈥� Annis said. Surrey Connect claimed during the election campaign that sticking with the RCMP would save taxpayers $520M over the next four years.
Coun. Mike Bose said having a referendum, 鈥渁s expensive and as time-consuming as it would be,鈥� would 鈥渃reate that transparency and openness that we鈥檝e all run on.鈥�
Two options were before council. The second option, rendered moot after this vote, was to continue the transition to the Surrey Police Service.
Surrey First issued a press release before the meeting calling for a referendum, in which Annis said, 鈥淭he nine of us elected to council on October 15 should not be making this final decision.鈥�
Annis wrote a letter to Farnworth urging him to call on the City of Surrey to hold a public referendum on the policing question, arguing that 鈥渢his costly back-and-forth will remain a political football unless the voters of Surrey are finally allowed to decide this issue.鈥�
Nagra urged to 鈥済et the numbers out鈥� from the Surrey Police Board. 鈥淩ight now we don鈥檛 have any numbers,鈥� he said. 鈥淧lease make a wise decision, let鈥檚 get all the numbers before we vote on this.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檓 not saying, you know, that the SPS is better than RCMP or RCMP is better than SPS, all we鈥檙e saying is let鈥檚 look at the numbers one more time before we make any decisions.鈥�
Elford said going 鈥渂ack in time to untransition to the RCMP鈥� would once again render Surrey an 鈥渦nderpoliced city.鈥� The Newton resident said he鈥檚 been personally victimized under the RCMP鈥檚 watch, including having 19 bikes stolen, a 鈥渕eth-crazed bunch of youths smash windows out of my brand-new car and threaten my life in my driveway, only for them to come back and smash out the window of my rental car the next day.
鈥淒o I want to wake up in the middle of the night to chase a burglar out of my living room?鈥� Elford said. 鈥淚 do not want to go back to a police force that is undermanned and continues to be undermanned to this day.鈥�
In response, Coun. Rob Stutt said he fails to see how Elford 鈥渉as provided any proof that a change of the policing that we鈥檝e had for the last 70 years would improve by a new police force.鈥�
鈥淲e hear let鈥檚 look at the numbers one more time. I would like to look at the numbers one time. We haven鈥檛 seen the numbers yet,鈥� Stutt noted. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the issue.鈥�
Coun. Gordon Hepner asked city staff if the SPS has revealed to staff its capital expenditure plan for the transition. Finance manager Kam Grewal replied that 鈥渙ver the course of time staff have worked with SPS, there have been communications, but in relation to recent times and an updated capital plan, that information hasn鈥檛 yet been solidified or finalized in terms of what does that plan look like rolling out to completion of transition.鈥�
Locke also weighed in.
鈥淔irst of all, Councillor Elford, with all due respect you consistently voted against additional staffing to add more boots on the ground and we did not see that in the previous four years,鈥� she said. She added Annis is getting ahead of herself in terms of a referendum because the motion before council Monday was to maintain the RCMP as the police of jurisdiction and send a plan to Farnworth.
鈥淭hey are that now,鈥� Locke said. 鈥淲e are only talking about asking staff to assist us in preparing a report, in fact, a report that should have been prepared at the very beginning of this almost four years ago.鈥�
Meantime, the Surrey Police Union last week said 275 of 293 Surrey Police Service officers signed a pledge saying they have no intention of joining the 鈥渢oxic鈥� RCMP if the process to reverse the SPS policing transition to keep the Surrey RCMP as the city鈥檚 police of jurisdiction goes ahead.
The Surrey Police Union pledge, released Nov. 10, says 94 per cent of its members have declared 鈥淣o Intention鈥� of joining the RCMP if the SPS ceases to exist.
Locke on election night Oct. 15 said in her victory speech that she and her team have a 鈥済reat plan鈥� to keep the Surrey RCMP as the city鈥檚 police of jurisdiction, adding, 鈥淲e will not leave any of the SPS officers behind, we will pick them up.鈥� She reiterated this in her inauguration speech on Nov. 7, at city hall.
SPU President Rick Stewart said the officers 鈥渧oluntarily signed this declaration because of a number of specific reasons related to the RCMP, and as such, Mayor Locke鈥檚 hiring plan shows no regard for the will of our members鈥� and 鈥渢he attraction of working for a Surrey-based municipal police force remains as one of the main factors behind our successful recruitment thus far.鈥�
Locke expressed dismay.
鈥淚 would tell you that quite frankly I鈥檓 disappointed with this tactic that the SPS union has taken and as I said in my statement, this plan will be people-centric.
鈥淭here are opportunities with the RCMP and so people will make their decisions moving forward so I think all that will take on whatever role it takes on later on,鈥� Locke told the Now-Leader. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a new day for Surrey and we鈥檙e going to do exactly what the voter had asked and so we鈥檝e moving forward on that. But you know, we鈥檝e got to get beyond the back-and-forth and that鈥檚 important. I know we all want to have a shared goal.鈥�
That goal, she said, is keeping residents safe.
Brian Sauv茅, president of the National Police Federation, said policing 鈥渟hould not be politicized.
鈥淭he police transition in Surrey has been a polarizing issue. However, the members of the Surrey RCMP have shown dedication and commitment throughout, and have been working seamlessly with their SPS colleagues which is a testament to their professionalism.鈥�
On the matter of council instructing City of Surrey staff to in turn instruct the Surrey Police Board to cease hiring and spending, the board鈥檚 executive director Melissa Granum notes that under the Police Act the provincial government has authority over the board and no city council can direct the police 鈥渨ith respect to their budget and their hiring.鈥�
Granum says the board has 鈥渆very intention鈥� of 鈥渓ooking to the province for guidance on next steps and advice鈥� and 鈥渋t鈥檚 also important to understand that the hiring that鈥檚 occurring right now is completed and that takes us into January of next year. So we have new police recruits for the police academy and we have police officers hired to deploy in January.鈥�
Those hires, she said, have been completed.
鈥淪o any stoppage to hiring would have a ripple effect into the spring,鈥� Granum said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really, really important to understand is that the province has given us direction to continue deploying police officers and to continue hiring. That鈥檚 the direction from the province itself.鈥�
This, Granum explains, overrides what council decided Monday night 鈥渨ith our approved budget, yes.鈥�
鈥淭he bottom line is hiring these police officers that we鈥檝e already given employment offers to and who鈥檝e already given notice to their previous employers, is Surrey needs those police resources at the front line, they need those police resources to be taking calls for service in Surrey.鈥�
So it鈥檚 the province that has the say, not city council at this point, within the 2022 budget. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 something really important as well is council ultimately approves our annual budgets so we鈥檒l be submitting a budget for next year, and we鈥檒l have to determine next steps once council makes a decision on the budget for next year.鈥�
That said, Granum notes 鈥渋t would be ideal鈥� for Farnworth to make his decision 鈥渋n a timely manner鈥� because council needs to plan its budget and 鈥渋t needs to understand which direction it鈥檚 going.鈥�
鈥淎t the end of the day, the most important thing obviously for everybody involved is public safety and ensuring that we have enough police officers working in the city. There鈥檚 a common goal there.鈥�
tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com
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