Surrey city councillor calls for public consultation on police force transition
Posted March 4, 2019 7:51 pm.
Last Updated March 5, 2019 1:20 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
SURREY (NEWS 1130) – A Surrey city councillor says there needs to be more opportunities for public consultation, as the city moves towards a possible transition to a municipal police force, away from the RCMP.
Safe Surrey councillor Jack Hundial says it’s important that people have clarity on several issues as they look at a municipal police force.
“We should be looking at what are we getting back in return for it,” he says. “And certainly what’s it going to cost, and what are the results they’re expecting at the end.”
Surrey First councillor Linda Annis says she’s changed her mind since voting in favour of the change in October.
“The mayor had assured me that the cost would be no more than ten per cent of what we’re currently paying for our policing, and I now believe that that’s not possible,” she says. “I supported it in the beginning but now my view is changing.
Hundial says there aren’t any consultation meetings in the works right now, but that will likely change in four to six weeks, after the Police Transition plan comes forward.
He says nothing is off the table right now, including stopping the transition, if that’s what the public really wants.
On Tuesday, Mayor Doug McCallum issued a statement in response.
“Our platform was abundantly clear, and the public was overwhelmingly in support of what we said we would do on its behalf, if elected,” he said.
“On the night this new Council was sworn in, Council voted unanimously in favour of cancelling the contract with the RCMP and moving ahead with a municipal police department. For critics to now say that there is a lack of a mandate or public consultation for Surrey to have its own municipal police department shows little to no regard for our most basic democratic principle of respecting the will of the people.”
McCallum also called out Hundial in the statement:
“Councillor Hundial, a retired 25-year RCMP officer, ran on that commitment and pledge to carry it out if elected. The voters entrusted us to deliver on our promises and that is a trust that Councillor Hundial is now breaking. I have no intention of breaking my campaign promises or the public’s trust.”
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include Mayor Doug McCallum’s response.
