AS was expected, Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke and her Surrey Connect councillors on Monday night by a majority of 5-4 on City Council voted to maintain the RCMP as the police of jurisdiction in Surrey, in spite of the fact that Locke was elected by only 28 per cent of the vote on this issue.
“Council’s endorsement of this option will have staff prepare a plan that will be forwarded to the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General [Mike Farnworth] upon Council approval,” read a statement from the City.
It also said: “On behalf of Council, staff will be issuing a letter to the Surrey Police Board to pause all new hiring and expenditures pending further Council direction.”
However, as The VOICE reported on Monday, the Surrey Police Service will not stop hiring because they take instructions from the Province and not Surrey City Council.
Melissa Granum, Executive Director, Surrey Police Board, told this newspaper that in fact the province last week instructed the Board to keep on doing what they are doing.
Safe Surrey Coalition Councillor Doug Elford, who along with fellow SSC Councillor Mandeep Nagra and Surrey First councillors Linda Annis and Mike Bose opposed the move, stated the following reasons at the Council meeting for his stand:
THE bottom line is if we go back in time to untransition to the RCMP we will once again become an unsafer City.
I lobbied for a safer more liveable City and going back in time will not accomplish this.
The previous council of 2018 endorsed the report to end the RCMP contract and transition to a municipal force. The current mayor supported this motion.
The provincial government endorsed our plan after extensive scrutiny.
I can speak from personal experience when I think back to when I was elected four years ago.
We were underpoliced, people were afraid to walk the streets at night. There was a sense of fear.
I knew we needed a change.
People argue the cost, I measure it more through a personal, emotional cost to myself and the community.
Do I want to go back in time where I have to pay for the replacement of the 19 bikes stolen in my time in Surrey? Do I want to endure the emotional stress of having a meth-crazed bunch of youths smash the windows out of my brand new car and threaten me with my life, in my driveway? Only for them to come back and smash out the window of my rental car the next day?
Do I want to wake up in the middle of the night to chase a burglar out of my home?
Do I want to deal with the constant incidences of petty crime to a point where my insurance agent discourages me from reporting because it will only increase my house insurance rates?
As a community are we willing to put up with rolling gun battles where children out playing street hockey had to scramble for their lives after a daytime shooting? Only to watch them pick up shell casings half a block from my house?
Are we willing to go back in time and endure the sensational killings of Julie Pascal, the hockey mom killed on her way to pick up her son from refereeing hockey, or Devon Allaire-Bell, Serena Vermeersch …
Remember the volatile safety forums demanding a change?
Do I want to see my neighbors wailing in grief standing on the street because they cannot cross the yellow tape to see their son who was gunned down in his own driveway?
Do we want to endure the rash of shootings that never seem to end?
You know what my answer is, No, I do not want to go back to a police force that is undermanned. And continues to be undermanned to this day.
They are at deficit in BC and have been in Surrey for years, we have extremely troubling low numbers of police on the street and it is very concerning because going back in time will not provide a solution.
I will never criticize the RCMP member on the street — they are dedicated men and women who put their lives on the line. But many are not committed to a career in Surrey. We lose out on a personal connection with our police and the community policing model that come with the SPS. The model needs a change.
I have always lobbied for more boots on the ground and going back in time will not resolve this.
The SPS is the logical way to go. Let’s keep moving forward to developing a progressive, forward-thinking police force!
