Surrey councillor frustrated by lack of policing progress
Posted September 21, 2023 11:23 am.
More than two months after B.C.’s Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth told the City of Surrey to drop its plans to bring back the RCMP and stick with the transition to a municipal police force, little has changed.
Surrey Coun. Linda Annis is among those frustrated by the situation, explaining that the jurisdiction is paying for two police forces — costing taxpayers millions of dollars every month.
“It’s costing the taxpayers of Surrey $266,000 [per day], or $8 million a month.
“We can’t afford this, we need to get on with it. And while I realized that it may not have been everybody’s decision to move forward with this transition … the decision has been made by the province.”
“We need to move forward and build the best possible police force that we possibly can,” Annis told CityNews’ sister station, OMNI News.
The province’s decision on the police transition came down in the middle of July after years of political to-and-fro by politicians of all stripes.
Annis says there’s been “little or no progress” since July, adding that the city can’t continue to delay the process.
“It’s a three-way partnership. The city needs to show leadership and be at the table with the province, along with the Surrey Police Service and the RCMP to make sure that this is done in a very timely fashion.
“We need to be pushing all of the individual organizations to make sure that it’s done as quickly and efficiently,” she said.
–With files from OMNI News
