Surrey Police Service ‘incapable’ of keeping the public safe: RCMP advocacy group

A group fighting to keep the RCMP in Surrey is deeply upset by the legislation brought forward on Monday.

On Monday, the province introduced legislation to amend the Police Act to avoid future challenges when a transition is approved and underway. The amendments say Surrey must complete its transition from the Surrey RCMP to the Surrey Police Service (SPS).

Keep the RCMP in Surrey spokesperson Paul Daynes says Mike Farnworth’s amendment to the Police Act is a political move.

“We feel we’ve been misled, lied to in a blatant calculated way for political reasons, which we believe they believe is to the advantage of the BC NDP,” he said.

“I think it’s a very, very sad day for democracy … a sadder day for openness, honesty, and transparency in public life.”

Daynes believes Farnworth’s decision was a “knee-jerk reaction” to Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke’s announcement that the city would opt for a judicial review. He says the province was shocked by Locke’s move, causing it to “change the rules.”

Daynes says Keep the RCMP in Surrey has collected over 92,000 signatures for a petition to keep the RCMP in the city over a span of five years.

In addition, Daynes says he doesn’t think the SPS is capable of keeping the public safe, going as far as saying safety in the city is being “seriously compromised” by the policing transition.

“The SPS in our view are incapable of staying on top of public safety … part of the reason for that is they are completely unable to hire sufficient frontline police officers,” he said.

CityNews has reached out to the province for a response to Daynes’ comments.

With files from OMNI