Decision on Surrey’s policing future to come by spring: B.C.’s Public Safety Minister

Surrey RCMP or Surrey Police Service?

On Tuesday, B.C.’s public safety minister Mike Farnworth said the province will decide which will stay by late May or early June at the latest, before property tax notices are mailed to residents.

“I was asked on the weekend, was it gonna take months or weeks? I said I expect it in weeks,” he said. “My staff are doing everything they can, working with the City of Surrey, working with the RCMP, and the Surrey Police Service to get the answers to the questions that they need so we are able to make a decision that puts public safety first in the city of Surrey.”

On Saturday, Mayor Brenda Locke and the City of Surrey released a draft five-year budget, which includes a property tax increase of 17.5 per cent in 2023. She says more than half of that would cover the costs associated with the transition from the RCMP to the SPS.

“We are running short of time and so we put forward a budget that incorporated the wishes of council, and the wishes of council – and the electorate – was to have the RCMP as the police of jurisdiction. If the province comes back with something else, we’ll have to deal with that at that time,” said Locke.

She maintains the Surrey Police Service would cost more than the RCMP. The SPS disputes the numbers used by the city and on Monday called for an independent audit of the city’s costings.

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• Surrey property tax could rise for policing: ‘We have no choice’

• B.C. sends Surrey police transition request back to city, SPS

Ian MacDonald, media liaison for the SPS, says a real cost will be present regardless of what decision is made.

“Either to continue with the transition or to un-transition. And so, what we think is happening, is a very broad spotlight is pointed at any of the SPS related transition expenditures, but not enough light is being shed on the costs of undoing the transition,” he explained.

Locke was elected in October after running on a promise to halt the transition to a municipal police force, which was triggered by previous Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum. The transition is well underway with hundreds of millions of dollars spent and hundreds of SPS officers hired.