Surrey Police Service now has over half of it’s officers

Surrey Police Service (SPS) deployed 35 more officers Monday, which now gives the new policing service 155 officers in total, according to a statement from police.

SPS said in April its goal was to have 295 officers in action by May 2023.

In addition, officers say 26 civilian and sworn employees were officially welcomed at a ceremony Monday.

SPS says it has 352 employees so far this year.

Of that number, police say 298 are sworn officers, 54 are civilians, and 155 of those sworn police officers have been deployed.

There are also 28 in training, and the remaining number are working in various positions outside typical policing.

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Last month, SPS became the second-largest municipal agency in the province.

However, police say they are still working alongside the RCMP as the transition plays out.

The next phase of that transition will focus on the change of command, according to Surrey police, though a timeline for that has not been established.

On the SPS website, it says it will hire over 800 police officers over the next couple of years.

The last time Surrey had a municipal police service was in 1951.