Solicitor general gives Surrey municipal police force green light
Credit to Author: Jennifer Saltman| Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2019 21:26:58 +0000
The provincial government has given the City of Surrey the go-ahead to set up its own municipal police force.
The approval comes three months after the city submitted a policing transition plan to Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth for approval.
In a joint statement, Farnworth and Mayor Doug McCallum said that a project team led by former B.C. attorney general Wally Oppal will be struck “to ensure all key issues are addressed and all complex details are in place to facilitate orderly transition.”
Surrey hopes to have a new municipal department up and running by April 1, 2021.
The transition report, which was prepared by the cities of Surrey and Vancouver and the Vancouver Police Department, provided an overview of what Surrey’s force is expected to look like.
It’s proposed that the municipal department will have 1,150 employees: 805 police officers, 325 civilian positions and 20 community safety personnel.
The city has claimed its force will have 1.6 per cent more officers than the Surrey RCMP, because it has a number of vacancies. However, the RCMP has said it has a full complement of 843 officers — with no vacancies — which would mean the new force has 4.5 per cent fewer sworn members.
One of the report writers said the difference of opinion can be attributed to data-sharing issues.
The report also says 84 per cent of municipal officers will be constables and will be more visible in the community, with more than 64 per cent of officers expected to “deploy in uniform and interact with the public on a regular basis.”
The city expects to have 80 per cent of its officers hired, trained and deployable by the transition date.
Mockup of a Surrey Police cruiser: There is conflicting information about whether a municipal force will have more, or fewer, officers on the ground than the existing RCMP squad.
It’s estimated that the annual operating budget for the Surrey Police Department will be $192.5 million in 2021, which is 10.9 per cent more than the estimated RCMP policing budget for that year ($173.6 million).
A number of one-time capital investments will be needed for the new municipal department, including $11.8 million to recruit, administer and equip newly hired staff; $7.6 million to transition existing, upgrade and replace IT systems and infrastructure; and $400,000 to repurpose existing RCMP vehicles. These costs may be amortized over three or more fiscal years.
Over four fiscal years, Surrey also expects to pay $19.4 million in one-time transition staffing costs to “execute the Surrey PD staffing model.” The costs are expected to be $3.3 million in 2019, $8.7 million in 2020, $7.1 million in 2021 and $300,000 in 2022.
McCallum’s objective is to speed through the transition and have Surrey’s own police force by 2021, but Farnworth said the timeline will largely be determined by the transition committee.
“That is why we’ve got the people who are there,” Farnworth said during a press conference. “They understand policing, they understand the issues involved, that will be the work of the committee.”
“I expect them to work expeditiously, but that will be in the hands of the committee.”
One thing that will not be on the table will be another public vote on the issue. Farnworth said “there is no plan for a referendum.”
Farnworth added that it will also be the committee’s job to conduct the research and analysis to fill in the gaps that critics have identified in Surrey’s proposal for a police force, whether the issues relate to personnel, technology or other matters.
“So when there are decisions to be made around all those issues, we have the information required so the transition plan deals with them,” Farnworth said.
The province will cover the cost of the transition committee’s work, Farnworth said, but only the price tag for the work that it does. Everything else related to switching to a Surrey municipal police force will be the city’s responsibility.
Councillors who have since left McCallum’s Safe Surrey Coalition to sit as independents and the one opposition councillor have roundly criticized the report for being vague and incomplete, and the entire process for failing to involve Surrey residents.
Jack Hundial, a retired RCMP officer, said the transition report has significant gaps in the areas of human resources and cost, in particular. Hundial left the coalition in July.
Coun. Brenda Locke has noted that the new force will have fewer officers — almost half as many as the RCMP — trained to deal with people who have mental health problems, and called it “bizarre” and a step backward. Locke left the party in June.
Another councillor, Steven Pettigrew, said he was embarrassed to be associated with the report because it was lacking. He said council members had been kept in the dark about the planning process. Pettigrew left the coalition in May.
Coun. Linda Annis, who was elected as a member of the Surrey First party and is executive director of Metro Vancouver Crime Stoppers, on Thursday reiterated her position that Surrey residents should be consulted on the policing transition.
“While I’m disappointed that the province hasn’t provided an opportunity for Surrey taxpayers to have their say, I am hopeful the task force that has been set up will drill down into the details of the proposed new police department and will provide some mechanism for Surrey voters and taxpayers to be heard in a serious way, something that has been missing so far,” she said in an emailed statement.
More to come…
— with files from Derrick Penner
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