Surrey policing sparks heated debate in legislature

The question over who will be the police of jurisdiction in Surrey, who’s going to pay for it, and when a final decision will come down from the provincial government, spilled into the B.C. Legislature Wednesday.

There was a heated back and forth between politicians of all stripes in the chamber as the opposition pushed the governing NDP for answers.

Solicitor General Mike Farnworth faced a barrage of accusations.

A decision on what’s happening with the Surrey Police Service (SPS) was supposed to come down late last month, instead, the provincial government said it was delaying it because it needed more information.

Farnworth says he will not be forced into making a decision.

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“[The City of Surrey] has acknowledged that the costs of the return to the RCMP are entirely theirs and theirs alone. Their mayor has made clear, that the previous council is what entered into this arrangement. My responsibility, our responsibility as government, is to ensure there is a plan that will ensure safe and effective policing on a transition plan back to the RCMP, if that’s what Surrey wants to do,” he said.

His staff continues to review the file and earlier this week, Farnworth said a decision should be made public sometime in late May or early June — before property tax notices are mailed to residents.

“Let us be clear, honourable speaker, that does not mean negotiating the contracts between the City of Surrey and the police, that’s done by themselves in the same way that it is done for Vancouver, for New Westminster, for Port Moody and the RCMP.”

Farnworth says his job is to ensure the transition, whichever way it goes, is done smoothly.

“We want to make sure that if the City of Surrey wants to go back that we have safe and effective policing, that there’s a plan that ensures that takes place without taking resources from Prince George, or from Kelowna, or the North Shore or Coquitlam, and also recognizes the challenges in that transition that involve the getting of recruits out of The Depot.

“And just so the members understand the complications involved in this, 900 recruits on average each year — 17 per cent don’t make it — those recruits then have to supply the federal line, the provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and the Maritimes. British Columbia gets about one-third of them. RCMP retire. They have to fill spaces for members who want them in their community, but at the same time to be able to deal with the issues in Surrey.” he explained.

Earlier this week, the SPS called for an independent audit of the city’s costings, claiming they’re “inflated and mischaracterized.”

The city released a draft of its five-year budget over the weekend, which shows a proposed 9.5 per cent property tax increase which, if approved, would go toward policing transition costs.