The Surrey Police Service (SPS) is a municipal police force in the city of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several police departments within the Metro Vancouver Regional District,[5] and as of December 2022, the second largest municipal police service in British Columbia. Prior to the SPS's establishment, Surrey was Canada's largest city without a municipal police service.[6] The RCMP, a federal agency, currently has policing jurisdiction in Surrey, and Surrey's present mayor is resisting the transition to a municipal police force. [6]
History
Surrey maintained a municipal police department until May 1, 1951, when policing duties were contracted out to the RCMP under a Police Service Agreement.[7][8] During Doug McCallum's first stint as mayor (1996-2005), Surrey City Council considered re-establishing a municipal police service in response to low RCMP staffing, but ultimately remained with the RCMP due to the high cost of establishing a police force.[9] On November 5, 2018, during McCallum's second stint as mayor, the council members (including Brenda Locke) approved a motion to replace Surrey RCMP with a new municipal police force and started the termination process of its Police Service Agreement with the RCMP.[10] On February 27, 2020, Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, approved the creation of the Surrey Police Board, responsible for overseeing the Surrey Police Service; and the Board appointed the first chief constable, Norm Lipinski, in November of that year.[11][12]
In November 2021, the first Surrey Police Service officers were deployed alongside Surrey RCMP officers.[13]
On March 10, 2022, a Surrey Police officer was stabbed and wounded during an arrest.[14]
On February 8, 2023, a Surrey Police officer facing an investigation into text messages he had been exchanging with a 15-year-old girl took his own life in a Langley gun range.[15] The officer had been suspended and criminal charges had been pending at the time of his death.[16]
Attempted reversal to RCMP contract policing
After the 2022 Surrey Mayoral Election, Brenda Locke was elected as mayor of Surrey, narrowly beating out incumbent Doug McCallum.[17] During the campaigns, pro-RCMP groups endorsed Locke, as she was the only candidate out of five mayoral candidates with the platform to disband Surrey Police Service and revert to RCMP contract policing.[18][19] After being elected, Locke's council voted 6–3 to stop and reverse the transition, but under provincial law, the transition could not be halted until the province approved the reversal plan.[20] The city's ethics commissioner later ruled that during this vote, Councillor Rob Stutt violated the council's code of conduct by failing to disclose a conflict of interest. Both of his children worked for the Surrey RCMP at the time.[21]
On April 28, 2023, the provincial government recommended that the City retain the Surrey Police Service, citing concerns that restaffing the Surrey RCMP would destabilize RCMP staffing across the province and issues around the quality of RCMP service in general.[20] Public Safety Minister Farnworth promised to fund the remainder of the transition to the SPS on the condition that the City completed the transition, and refused to fund any of the costs associated with returning to the RCMP.[20] The province also attached several conditions to returning to the RCMP, such as a detailed re-staffing plan that did not include poaching RCMP members from other detachments.[20]
During a closed-door meeting on June 16, 2023, the Surrey council once again voted to reverse the transition and return to RCMP policing.[22] Councillor Linda Annis said that councillors only received the relevant 500-page provincial report and the city's reports on the feasibility and costs of maintaining the RCMP the night before, giving them less than 24 hours to review the recommendations and rationale.[23]
On July 19, 2023, the provincial government ordered the city continue to transition to the Surrey Police Service, finding that the city's re-staffing plan did not meet the requirements laid out by the province and that there was no conceivable way in which the Surrey RCMP could maintain its status as the police of jurisdiction without compromising public safety elsewhere in the province.[24] The provincial government will continue to fund the remainder of the transition as promised when the government recommended the City continue the transition, and it also appointed former BC Hydro CEO Jessica McDonald as an advisor to facilitate the remainder of the transition.[24]
On October 13, 2023, the Surrey government filed a lawsuit against the province seeking an injunction to suspend the transition.[25] In response, the BC Legislative Assembly passed the Police Amendment Act, 2023, which enables the Solicitor General to compel the Surrey government into completing the transition and terminating their contract with the RCMP. Peter German, the legal counsel of the Surrey government, announced they will continue to fight the transition and amend their lawsuit to address the Act.[26]
On November 16, 2023, the BC Solicitor General Mike Farnworth suspended the authority of the Surrey Police Board, invoking the powers granted by the Police Amendment Act, 2023. Farnworth claimed that this was done because the Board was deliberately stalling on the transition process from the RCMP to the SPS. Mayor Locke, who was also the chair of the board, regarded this action as a "takeover" by the provincial government. Mike Serr, a former Abbotsford Police chief, was installed as an administrator to act in the Board's place.[27]
Organization
Budget
An operational budget of $184 million was planned for the fiscal year 2021, while another $63.7 million was budgeted over five years from 2020 to 2024 to complete the transition from the RCMP.[4]
Policing districts
There will be five SPS districts, aligned with the city of Surrey neighbourhood boundaries. A District Inspector will manage each district.[28] The Metro Team will be a flexible unit responsible for a citywide patrol.
SPS maintains three bureaus, each managed by a Deputy Chief Constable:[28][29]
Community Policing Bureau
Patrol Section
Patrol Support Section
Diversity and Community Support Section
Detention Services Section
Operations Communications Centre
Investigative Services Bureau
Major Crime Section
Organized Crime Section
Special Investigations Section
Property Crime Section
Analysis and Investigations Support Section
Support Services Bureau
Human Resources Section
Professional Standards Section
Recruiting and Training Section
Information Management Section
Financial Services Section
Planning and Research Section
List of chief constables
Norm Lipinski (2020–present)
Controversies
Opposition to municipal policing
Brenda Locke, the current mayor, has opposed the transition to a municipal police force since 2022. In 2018, as a city councillor, she voted in favour of creating a municipal police force.
The RCMP police union (the National Police Federation) and some community members raised opposition to the establishment of a municipal police force. This group attempted to force a province-wide referendum on the issue in 2021, but failed to secure enough signatures for the vote to proceed.[30]
Hiring
The Surrey Police Service planned to hire 400 officers in 2022. It was accused of poaching officers from other municipal police forces as it rapidly expanded and recruited experienced officers from 18 police forces.[31] In 2022, the Service entered into its first contract with the Surrey Police Union, which included agreements that new recruits would be among the highest-paid in the country and a parity clause that ensured that annual raises would match those of the nearby Vancouver Police Department.[32]
See also
E-Comm, 9-1-1 call and dispatch centre for Southwestern BC
RCMP "E" Division, a division of federal and provincial police force headquartered in Surrey
