THE Surrey Police Union, noting that the initiative to conduct a Surrey policing binding referendum had failed to gather the required signatures to go forward, said it was pleased to see that at least 88% of registered voters in Surrey did not sign it.
“There is tremendous support in the City for a local, progressive, and accountable police service specifically designed to meet the evolving needs of our local community,” the union said in a press statement.
It added: “Unfortunately, there are some stakeholders that have a vested interest in protecting the outdated status quo, including the Surrey Police Vote campaign, which is funded by the RCMP’s Union, the National Police Federation.”
The union pointed out that according to provincial legislation, the campaign was required to collect 10% of signatures from all 87 electoral districts across British Columbia. The signatures reported by Surrey Police Vote are far below this threshold.
The union said that it would be interested to know the distribution of the signatures amongst electoral ridings in Surrey.
The union added: “Were the signatures collected concentrated in one or two electoral ridings? How many of the signatures reported were from residents outside Surrey? It is also important to highlight that the signatures reported are unverified, and it is not known if some residents signed multiple times or are even registered voters.”
It said that now that the initiative petition is over and failed to collect the required signatures, Surrey Police members look to initial deployment in the coming weeks and an orderly, responsible transition toward a municipal police service.
Union President Rick Stewart said: “Surrey Police Union members are excited to work alongside Surrey RCMP members in the coming weeks as the transition continues. With the initiative petition behind us, it is time for our community to have a progressive, local, professional, and accountable police service that proudly reflects the diversity of our City.”
The Indo-Canadian Voice adds:
THE VOICE has consistently highlighted these facts:
1. Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum and seven of his Safe Surrey Coalition members won the election fair and square on the pledge that they would form a Surrey police force to replace the RCMP. In fact, all the eight new Councillors, including the lone one from Surrey First, voted to ditch the RCMP at the very first Council meeting.
2. The Police Act says that any city with a population of more than 5,000 can decide what type of police force they want. So, when the City of Surrey approached the Provincial Government with its proposal, the latter had no option but to give the go-ahead. In spite of three Councillors ditching McCallum’s group, the mayor still controls the majority vote in Surrey Council.
3. Among the tactics that the pro-RCMP forces started resorting to was the call for a referendum on the change in policing. However, legally, only the City can authorize such a referendum – the Province or the federal government cannot.
4. Surrey voters delivered a slap in the face of those who want to keep the RCMP in Surrey last year when they not only re-elected all six incumbent NDP MLAs – Jinny Sims (Surrey-Panorama), Rachna Singh (Surrey-Green Timbers), Jagrup Brar (Surrey-Fleetwood), Harry Bains (Surrey-Newton), Bruce Ralston (Surrey-Whalley) and Garry Begg (Surrey-Guildford) – but also booted out Marvin Hunt (Surrey-Cloverdale) and replaced him with the NDP’s Mike Starchuk in spite of the BC Liberals and RCMP supporters making the police transition the hot issue in the city in last year’s election.
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