Surrey to unveil municipal police force cruiser despite delays in approval
Posted May 6, 2019 11:07 pm.
Last Updated May 6, 2019 11:08 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
SURREY (NEWS 1130) – Despite the lack of approval from the provincial government, Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum plans to unveil a municipal police force cruiser on Tuesday morning.
A potential new police cruiser will be revealed at the State of the City Address, and it will be the first physical development in the highly contested police transition.
But former mayor Dianne Watts says it’s a questionable decision, given plans to ditch the RCMP haven’t been seen or approved by the province.
“Due diligence has not been done,” she says. “The approvals are not in place, nor the cost analysis. It’s not something that should be bandied around and go into the political arena until that work is done.”
She says the fact the mayor, council and the public haven’t even seen the report is extremely disturbing, adding taxpayers have a right to know just how much this transition would cost.
“I think that it’s really foolish at this point in time to start unveiling a police car,” Watts says. “There’s a lot of work that needs to be done, and this is not something that needs to be politicized.”
Watts also highlights the lack of public consultation, calling it extremely problematic considering taxpayers are stuck with the cost of the new police force.
The report outlining the transition was supposed to be sent off to the province by the end of last month, but was delayed until mid-May. Mayor McCallum says he hasn’t seen the report yet either, and will only be able to speak to the cost once it’s complete.
