THE Surrey Police Board said on Friday that it is pleased with the recommendations released by the Special Committee on Reforming the Police Act.

“The recommendations associated to the modernization of policing in British Columbia and a move to locally accountable policing models is in alignment with the work that is being done with Surrey’s policing transition to a municipal police service. The Committee’s position on improving the structure of boards, including the consideration of removing the mayor as chair while ensuring municipal council representation will benefit the relationship between boards and city councils,” said Cheney Cloke, Vice Chair of the Surrey Police Board. “We appreciate the provincial support we have received to date. The recommendations in the report are good for Surrey and for policing in BC.”

The report, which was informed by more than 1,800 interviews with individuals and organizations, clearly demonstrates that the all-party special commitee recognizes the importance of modernizing many aspects of policing in British Columbia. In particular,  the report recognizes the  need for more sophisticated, diverse and empowering civilian oversight of the police, according to the Surrey Police Board.

“On behalf of the Surrey Police Board, we wish to thank the government for its work in developing a fulsome and well-researched set of recommendations to reform the BC Police Act,” said Cloke.