Surrey Police chief reflects on third year at the helm

As he approaches his third anniversary on the job, Surrey Police Service (SPS) Chief Norm Lipinski reflects on the policing transition and challenges to come.

Lipinski tells OMNI News he’s happy with the work that’s been done up to this point, but he also recognizes the public and provincial urgency to fully transition to a single municipal force.

“We have to lean forward for the stability of policing and for the trust of the community,” he said. “We have to move forward rather quickly here because there’s some confusion in the community.”

As much as this has been a historical and dragged-out transitional process full of unexpected twists and turns, Lipinski says it’s time for everyone to realize this transition is happening.

“We have to acknowledge that the province made a decision, we have to acknowledge that there is legislation now,” he said.

“To me, that’s finality and we have to move ahead.”

Lipinski says his, and the SPS’s biggest achievement up to this point is the nearly 400 people — and one dog — the service currently employs. This marks a stark increase from when he took the helm in 2020 and became the first employee of the SPS.

Last week, the newly appointed board administrator, Mike Serr, hung his hat on a budget promise to have another 180 SPS officers hired by the end of 2024, which would mean over half the officers on the ground in Surrey would be SPS.

Although the idea is ambitious, Lipinski says he is confident they will be able to come through and fill that quota.

“We are resilient and we have the will to finish the project,” he said.

“I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished.”

With files from OMNI News