Surrey Board of Trade wants community advisory council to work on police transition
Credit to Author: David Carrigg| Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2019 17:19:04 +0000
Surrey Board of Trade boss Anita Huberman has issued a list of demands after Thursday’s announcement that a special committee would be formed to oversee the creation of a municipal police force.
“As many people are aware the Surrey Board of Trade has advocated to keep the Surrey RCMP in Surrey, to harness and enhance our existing resources and address any deficiencies in our public safety infrastructure,” Huberman said.
However, setting up a municipal force to replace the Surrey RCMP was a pillar of mayor Doug McCallum’s municipal campaign platform last fall and is now underway.
In May, the City of Surrey submitted a policing transition report to Solicitor-General Mike Farnworth’s office, which was prepared by the cities of Surrey and Vancouver and the Vancouver Police Department. It provided an overview of what Surrey’s force is expected to look like, including staffing numbers and costs. Surrey hopes to have its new municipal department up and running by April 1, 2021.
On Thursday, Farnworth revealed that former Attorney General Wally Oppal would lead a joint project team to research and analyze potential problems that critics — including the board of trade — had identified in Surrey’s proposal (including personnel, technology and inter-agency information sharing.)
The city believes the municipal police force could be operational by April, 2021. It would have 1,150 employees — including 805 officers — and cost $192.5 million a year to run.
Huberman told Postmedia News that a key concern was the lack of public consultation around the new police force. She said the board wants to create a community advisory council that would work with Oppal’s committee and was planning a public event in early November to discuss the planned police force and that Farnworth and Oppal would be invited.
The Surrey Board of Trade is also calling for:
with files from Jennifer Saltman