Surrey councillor concerned police transition will reduce services for child victims of abuse

SURREY (NEWS 1130) – A Surrey city councillor is having second thoughts about voting in favour of getting rid of the RCMP and the mayor is not impressed.

Brenda Locke says the transition away from the RCMP to a municipal police force will take away resources from Sophie’s Place, where police, families and social services work with child victims of abuse. Council had approved an expansion to the centre, but those resources appear to already be on the chopping block.

“When I go to the police transition report, they’ve actually shrunk those numbers back to what they currently are, which makes the caseload per member untenable,” Locke said.

Locke says the transition report calls for a reduction in specialized investigators and then replaces them with other officers, and this will have a huge impact on the services available at the centre.

“You cannot take a police officer doing sexual assault or sexual abuse and translate that to children. It doesn’t work,” she said. “Previously cases were limited to children newborn to 10 years. Last year, 183 children were part of Sophie’s Place and this year that number is expected to grow to more than 300, but it looks like the report on the proposed Surrey Police Department ignored Councils’ motions and what’s really needed to deliver services to the most vulnerable in our society.”

When city council supported the expansion in February, Locke says it included 11 investigators from the current Special Victims Unit, but the most recent report calls for seven officers, with additional resources at ‘peak times.’

Locke says the changes are making her think twice about supporting the move to a municipal force.

“I’m going to support the RCMP at this point because, I can tell you, this report is not going to be good policing for Surrey.”

Mayor Doug McCallum says Locke has broken her word to voters, who put her in office based on her support for the Surrey Police, and that the councillor is “fearmongering” about the risks to Sophie’s Place. Locke says isn’t sure she would have voted in favour of the transition if she knew this was going to happen.

In a press release, McCallum said Locke’s actions are “unconscionable and irresponsible.”

The statement says: “The proposed staffing model in the Surrey Policing Transition Report is a starting point and officers can be moved and added to sections as deemed appropriate by the SPD Chief. It should be noted that under the new SPD model the 7 officers dedicated to Sophie’s Place would be complimented by and is part of a larger Special Investigations Section.”